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attrition [attrition 词源字典]: attrition: see throw
[attrition etymology, attrition origin, 英语词源]
cartridge: cartridge: see chart
cockatrice: cockatrice: [14] The name of the cockatrice, a mythical serpent whose glance could kill, has a bizarre history. It started life as medieval Latin calcātrix, which meant literally ‘tracker, hunter’ (it was formed from the verb calcāre ‘tread, track’, a derivative of calx ‘heel’). This was a direct translation of Greek ikhneúmōn (a derivative of ikhneúein ‘track’), a name given to a mysterious Egyptian creature in ancient times which was said to prey on crocodiles.

At one point Latin calcātrix, later caucātrix, came to be used for the crocodile itself, but this application never gained much currency in English (which adopted the word via Old French cocatris). Instead, it was adopted as another name for the basilisk, a mythical serpent. The accidental similarity of the first syllable to cock led both to the embroidering of the basilisk/cockatrice legend, so that it was said to have been born from a cock’s egg, and to the word’s 16th-century rerouting as a heraldic term for a beast with the head, wings, and body of a cock and the tail of a serpent.
contribute: contribute: see tribe
contrition: contrition: see throw
contrive: contrive: [14] In Middle English, contrive was controve; it was not transformed into contrive (perhaps under the influence of Scottish pronunciation) until the 15th century. It came via Old French controver from Latin contropāre ‘represent metaphorically, compare’, a compound verb based on the prefix com- ‘too’ and tropus ‘figure of speech’ (source of English trope). The word’s meaning has progressed through ‘compare via a figure of speech’ and Old French ‘imagine’ to ‘devise’.
=> trope
detriment: detriment: [15] Etymologically, detriment denotes damage caused by ‘wearing away’. The word comes via Old French from Latin dētrīmentum, a derivative of dēterere ‘wear away’ (whose past participle is the source of English detritus [18]). This was a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and terere ‘rub’ (from which English gets attrition and trite). The generalized metaphorical sense ‘harm’ had already developed in classical Latin.
=> attrition, detritus, trite
diatribe: diatribe: [16] Diatribe’s connotations of acrimoniousness and abusiveness are a relatively recent (19th-century) development. Originally in English it meant simply ‘learned discourse or disquisition’. It comes via Latin diatriba from Greek diatribé ‘that which passes, or literally wears away, the time’, and hence, in scholarly circles, ‘study’ or ‘discourse’. This was a derivative of diatribein ‘pass, waste, while away’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dia- and tríbein ‘rub’.
=> attrition, detriment, trite
distribute: distribute: see tribe
district: district: [17] District started life as the past participle of the verb which gave English distrain [13] and strain. It came via French district from medieval Latin districtus; this meant literally ‘seized, compelled’, and hence was used as a noun in the sense ‘seizure of offenders’, and hence ‘exercise of justice’, and finally ‘area in which justice is so exercised (in the feudal system)’.

This was the word’s meaning when it was first borrowed into English, and it was not really until the early 18th century that its much more general modern application developed. Districtus was the past participle of Latin distringere, a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and stringere ‘pull tight’ (source of English strain, strict, stringent, stress, etc).

In classical times it meant ‘draw apart, detain, hinder’, but by the Middle Ages this had moved on to ‘seize, compel’, which were the main senses in which it entered English as distrain (via Old French destreindre). Latin districtus was also the source of a Vulgar Latin noun *districtia ‘narrowness’, which passed via Old French destresse into English as distress [13].
=> distrain, distress, strain, stress, strict, stringent
electricity: electricity: [17] The earliest manifestation of electricity was that produced by rubbing amber, and hence the name, based on ēlectrum, Latin for ‘amber’ (which in turn derives from Greek ēlektron). The first evidence of this in a Latin text is in William Gilbert’s De magnete 1600, but by the middle of the century we find the word being used in English treatises, notably Sir Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia epidemica 1646. (At this early stage, of course, it referred only to the ability of rubbed amber, etc to attract light bodies, the only property of electricity then known about; it was not until later that the full range of other electrical phenomena came to be included under the term.)
equestrian: equestrian: [17] Equestrian was adapted from Latin equester, an adjective derived from eques ‘horseman’. Eques in turn was based on equus ‘horse’ (source of English equine [18]). This was the Latin descendant of *ekwos, the prehistoric Indo-European term for ‘horse’, which was once found in all the daughter languages of Indo- European except for the Slavic branch: Old English had eoh, for example, Old Irish ech, Sanskrit avás, and ancient Greek híppos (source of English hippodrome and hippopotamus).

It is a remarkable circumstance, however, that over the past thousand years equus and its relatives have (other than in derivatives such as equine) died out, to be replaced by secondary terms such as French cheval (from Latin caballus, probably a non-Indo-European borrowing), German pferd (from late Latin paraverēdus ‘extra post-horse’, source also of English palfrey), and English horse.
=> equine, hippopotamus
extricate: extricate: see trick
extrinsic: extrinsic: see intrinsic
gastric: gastric: [17] Grek gastér meant ‘stomach’ (it was related to Greek gráō ‘gnaw, eat’ and Sanskrit gras- ‘devour’). It was used as the basis of the modern Latin adjective gastricus ‘of the stomach’, which English acquired via French gastrique. Derivatives include gastronomy ‘culinary connoisseurship’ [19], originally a French coinage, and gastropod ‘mollusc’ [19], literally ‘stomach-foot’ (from the ventral disc used by molluscs as a ‘foot’).
intricate: intricate: see trick
intrinsic: intrinsic: [15] The Latin adverb intrinsecus meant ‘on the inside’. It was formed from *intrim ‘inward’, an unrecorded derivative of the adverb intrā ‘within’, and secus ‘alongside’ (a relative of English second, sect, sequel, etc). In the post-classical period it came to be used as an adjective, meaning ‘inward’, and it passed into Old French as intrinseque ‘inner, internal’.

This general concrete sense accompanied the word into English, but it now survives only as an anatomical term, meaning ‘situated within a body part’. The abstract sense ‘inherent’, now the adjective’s main meaning, developed in the 17th century. The derivation of the antonym extrinsic [16] is precisely parallel, with Latin extrā ‘outside’ taking the place of intrā.
=> extrinsic, second, sect, sequel
latrine: latrine: see lavatory
matriculate: matriculate: see madrigal
matrix: matrix: see madrigal
nostril: nostril: [OE] Etymologically, a nostril is a ‘nosehole’. Its Old English ancestor was nosthyrl, a compound formed from nosu ‘nose’ and thyrl ‘hole’. This was a derivative of thurh ‘through’, and still survives as thirl, a dialectal word for ‘hole’.
=> nose, thrill, through
nutriment: nutriment: see nurse
nutrition: nutrition: see nurse
obstetric: obstetric: [18] An obstetric nurse is etymologically one who ‘stands before’ a woman giving birth to render assistance. The word is an adaptation of Latin obstetrīcius, a derivative of obstetrīx ‘midwife’. This in turn was formed from obstāre ‘stand in the way’ (source also of English obstacle [14] and oust [16]), a compound verb formed from the prefix ob- ‘before’ and stāre ‘stand’.
=> obstacle, oust, stand, station, statue
ostrich: ostrich: [13] Greek strouthós seems originally to have meant ‘sparrow’. Mégas strouthós ‘great sparrow’ – the understatement of the ancient world – was used for ‘ostrich’, and the ‘ostrich’ was also called strouthokámelos, because of its long camel-like neck. Eventually strouthós came to be used on its own for ‘ostrich’. From it was derived strouthíōn ‘ostrich’, which passed into late Latin as strūthiō (source of English struthious ‘ostrich-like’ [18]).

Combined with Latin avis ‘bird’ (source of English augur, aviary, etc) this produced Vulgar Latin *avistrūthius, which passed into English via Old French ostrusce as ostrich.
=> struthious
outstrip: outstrip: see strip
patriarch: patriarch: see patron
patrician: patrician: see patron
patrimony: patrimony: see patron
patriot: patriot: see patron
putrid: putrid: see pus
retribution: retribution: see tribe
retrieve: retrieve: [15] To retrieve something is etymologically to ‘re-find’ it. The word comes from retreuv-, the stem of Old French retrover. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and trover ‘find’ (ancestor of modern French trouver and source of English troubadour and trove, as in treasure trove). Its original application in English was to dogs refinding game that had been temporarily lost (hence the term retriever [15]).
=> troubadour, trove
strict: strict: [16] Strict was acquired direct from strictus, the past participle of Latin stringere ‘pull tight, tighten’ (source also of English prestige, strain, and stringent). The original literal sense ‘tight’ survived into English (‘She wildly breaketh from their strict embrace’, Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis 1592), but it has since given way to various metaphorical extensions.

Routed via Old French, strictus has given English strait, and English is also indebted to it for stress [14] (via the Vulgar Latin derivative *strictia) and stricture [14], not to mention prefixed forms such as constrain, constrict [18], distrain, distress, district, restrain, and restrict [16].
=> constrain, constrict, distrain, distress, district, prestige, restrain, restrict, strain, stress, stricture, stringent
stride: stride: [OE] Stride comes from a prehistoric Germanic base *strīd-, whose other descendants (German streiten and Dutch strijden ‘quarrel’, Swedish and Danish strid ‘strife, affliction’) suggest a basic underlying meaning ‘severity, great effort’. There may also be a link with English strife and strive. Straddle [16] comes from a variant of the same base. The use of the plural noun strides for ‘trousers’ dates from the late 19th century.
=> straddle
strident: strident: [17] Strident was adopted from the present participle of Latin strīdēre ‘make a harsh noise, creak’. This also produced English stridulate [19], which denotes the sound made by grasshoppers.
=> stridulate
strife: strife: see strive
strike: strike: [OE] Strike comes from a prehistoric Germanic base which denoted ‘touch lightly’ – a sense which survived into English (‘That good horse blessed he then, and lovingly struck its mane’, Sir Ferumbras 1380). The more violent modern sense ‘hit hard’ did not begin to encroach until the 13th century. The related stroke retains the original meaning, but another relative, streak, has also lost it.

All three go back to West Germanic *strīk-, *straik-, which in turn were descended from the Indo-European base *strig-, *streig-, *stroig-, source of Latin strigilis ‘tool for scraping the skin after a bath’ (acquired by English as strigil [16]). The use of strike for ‘withdraw labour’ developed in the mid-18th century (it is first recorded in the Annual Register 1768: ‘This day the hatters struck, and refused to work till their wages are raised’).

It probably comes from the notion of ‘downing’ one’s tools, as in strike a sail ‘lower a sail’.
=> streak, strigil, stroke
string: string: [OE] String is etymologically something that has been pulled ‘taut’ or ‘stiff’. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic base *strang-, denoting ‘taut, stiff’, which also produced English strong.
=> strong
stringent: stringent: see strain
strip: strip: Strip ‘narrow piece’ [15] and strip ‘remove covering’ [13] are distinct words. The former was perhaps borrowed from Middle Low German strippe ‘strap’, and may be related to English stripe [17], an acquisition from Middle Dutch strīfe. A stripling [13] is etymologically someone who is as thin as a ‘strip’. Strip ‘unclothe’ goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *straupjan, which also produced German streifen and Dutch stroopen. There was once a third English word strip, meaning ‘move quickly’, but it now survives only in the derived outstrip [16]; its origins are uncertain.
=> stripe, stripling
strive: strive: [13] Strive was borrowed from Old French estriver ‘quarrel, strive’. It is not certain where this came from, although it has been suggested that it was acquired from Old High German strīt ‘contention’, a relative of English stride. Strife [13] comes from the associated Old French noun estrif.
=> strife
tribe: tribe: [13] Tribe comes via Old French tribu from Latin tribus ‘division of the Roman people’. This was probably derived from the base *tri- ‘three’, and denoted etymologically the ‘three original tribes of Rome’ – the Tities, the Ramnes, and the Luceres. The ‘head of a tribe’ was known as a tribūnus, whence English tribune [14]; and the verb for ‘give out amongst the tribes’ was tribuere, source of English contribute [16], distribute [15], retribution [14], and tribute [14].
=> contribute, distribute, retribution, three, tribune, tribute
tribulation: tribulation: [13] Latin trībulum denoted an agricultural implement consisting of a wooden board with sharp stones or metal teeth underneath, used for threshing grain (it was derived from the base *trī-, a variant of *ter- ‘rub’, which also produced English attrition, contrition, detriment, detritus, diatribe, tribadism ‘lesbianism’ [19], and trite).

From this was derived the verb trībulāre ‘press’, which was used by Christian writers for ‘oppress, afflict’. And this sense provoked the derivative trībulātiō ‘affliction’, which passed into English via Old French tribulation.
=> attrition, contrition, detriment, detritus, diatribe, throw, tribadism, trite
trick: trick: [15] Trick comes from Old French trique, a variant of triche, which was derived from the verb trichier ‘cheat’ (source of English treachery). And this in turn probably came from Latin trīcarī ‘make difficulties, play tricks’ (source also of English extricate [17] and intricate [15]), a derivative of trīcae ‘difficulties, tricks’, whose origins are unknown. Tricky dates from the 18th century, its use for ‘difficult’ from the end of the 19th century.
=> extricate, intricate, treachery
trident: trident: see tooth
trifle: trifle: [13] Trifle was acquired from Old French truffle, a derivative of truffe ‘trickery, deceit’ (it is not known where this came from; it has no connection with English truffle, which may come ultimately from the same source as tuber). The first record of its application to a ‘sweet dessert confection’ dates from the end of the 16th century.
trilby: trilby: [19] The word trilby commemorates the name of Trilby O’Ferrall, the eponymous heroine of George du Maurier’s novel Trilby 1894. She was an artist’s model in Paris who fell under the spell of Svengali. In the stage version of the book the character Trilby wore a soft felt hat with an indented top, and the style soon became fashionable. The novel also dwells on the erotic qualities of Trilby’s feet, and for a while in the early 20th century trilbies was used as a slang term for ‘feet’.
trim: trim: [16] The origins of trim are uncertain, but it may come from an unrecorded Middle English verb *trimmen ‘arrange’, a descendant of Old English trymman or trymian ‘make stronger or firmer’
trinity: trinity: [13] Trinity comes via Old French trinite from Latin trīnitās ‘group of three’. This was a derivative of trīnus ‘threefold’, which in turn came from tria ‘three’, a close relative of English three.
=> three