英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

circumflex (n.)[circumflex 词源字典]: 1570s, from Latin (accentus) circumflexus, "bent around," past participle of circumflectere "to bend around," of a charioteer, "turn around" (from circum "around;" see circum-, + flectere "to bend;" see flexible); used as a loan-translation of Greek (prosodia) perispomenos (Dionysius of Halicarnassus), literally "drawn-around," with reference to shape.[circumflex etymology, circumflex origin, 英语词源]
circumvolve (v.): 1640s, from Latin circumvolvere "to roll round, revolve," from circum- (see circum-) + volvere "to turn around, roll" (see volvox). Related: Circumvolved; circumvolving.
converse (adj.): "exact opposite," 1560s, from Latin conversus "turn around," past participle of convertere "to turn about" (see convert). Originally mathematical. The noun is attested from 1550s in mathematics. Related: Conversely.
convert (v.): c. 1300, from Old French convertir, from Vulgar Latin *convertire, from Latin convertere "turn around, transform," from com- "together" (see com-) + vertere "to turn" (see versus). Originally in the religious sense. The Latin word is glossed in Old English by gecyrren, from cierran "to turn, return." Related: Converted; converting.
drill (n.1): "tool for making holes," 1610s, from Dutch dril, drille "a hole, instrument for boring holes," from drillen "to bore (a hole), turn around, whirl" (see drill (v.)).
drill (v.): c. 1600 (implied in drilling), from Dutch drillen "to bore (a hole), turn around, whirl," from Proto-Germanic *thr- (cognates: Middle High German drillen "to turn, round off, bore," Old Engish þyrel "hole"), from PIE *tere- (1) "to turn, rub" (see throw (v.)). Sense of "to instruct in military exercise" is 1620s (also in Dutch drillen and in the Danish and German cognates), probably from the notion of troops "turning" in maneuvers. Extended noun sense of "the agreed-upon procedure" is from 1940. Related: Drilled.
gauntlet (n.1): "glove," early 15c., gantelet, from Old French gantelet (13c.) "gauntlet worn by a knight in armor," also a token of one's personality or person, and in medieval custom symbolizing a challenge, as in tendre son gantelet "throw down the gauntlet" (a sense found in English by 1540s). The Old French word is a semi-diminutive or double-diminutive of gant "glove" (12c.), earlier wantos (7c.), from Frankish *wanth-, from Proto-Germanic *wantuz "glove" (cognates: Middle Dutch want "mitten," East Frisian want, wante, Old Norse vöttr "glove," Danish vante "mitten"), which apparently is related to Old High German wintan, Old English windan "turn around, wind" (see wind (v.)).
The name must orig. have applied to a strip of cloth wrapped about the hand to protect it from sword-blows, a frequent practice in the Icelandic sagas. [Buck]
Italian guanto, Spanish guante likewise are ultimately from Germanic. The spelling with -u- was established from 1500s.
lap (v.2): "to lay one part over another," early 14c., "to surround (something with something else)," from lap (n.). Figurative use, "to envelop (in love, sin, desire, etc.)" is from mid-14c. The sense of "to get a lap ahead (of someone) on a track" is from 1847, on notion of "overlapping." The noun in this sense is 1670s, originally "something coiled or wrapped up;" meaning "a turn around a track" (1861) also is from this sense. Related: Lapped; lapping; laps.
point (n.): c. 1200, "minute amount, single item in a whole; sharp end of a sword, etc.," a merger of two words, both ultimately from Latin pungere "prick, pierce, puncture" (see pungent). The Latin neuter past participle punctum was used as a noun, meaning "small hole made by pricking," subsequently extended to anything that looked like one, hence, "dot, particle," etc. This yielded Old French point "dot; smallest amount," which was borrowed in Middle English by c. 1300.

Meanwhile the Latin fem. past participle of pungere was puncta, which was used in Medieval Latin to mean "sharp tip," and became Old French pointe "point of a weapon, vanguard of an army," which also passed into English, early 14c.

The senses have merged in English, but remain distinct in French. Extended senses are from the notion of "minute, single, or separate items in an extended whole." Meaning "small mark, dot" in English is mid-14c. Meaning "distinguishing feature" is recorded from late 15c. Meaning "a unit of score in a game" is first recorded 1746. As a typeface unit (in Britain and U.S., one twelfth of a pica), it went into use in U.S. 1883. As a measure of weight for precious stones (one one-hundredth of a carat) it is recorded from 1931.

The point "the matter being discussed" is attested from late 14c.; meaning "sense, purpose, advantage" (usually in the negative, as in what's the point?) is first recorded 1903. Point of honor (1610s) translates French point d'honneur. Point of no return (1941) is originally aviators' term for the point in a flight "before which any engine failure requires an immediate turn around and return to the point of departure, and beyond which such return is no longer practical."
reverse (v.): early 14c. (transitive), "change, alter;" early 15c. (intransitive), "go backward," from Old French reverser "reverse, turn around; roll, turn up" (12c.), from Late Latin reversare "turn about, turn back," frequentative of Latin revertere (see revert). Related: Reversed; reversing.
spin (v.): Old English spinnan (transitive) "draw out and twist fibers into thread," strong verb (past tense spann, past participle spunnen), from Proto-Germanic *spenwan (cognates: Old Norse and Old Frisian spinna, Danish spinde, Dutch spinnen, Old High German spinnan, German spinnen, Gothic spinnan), from PIE *spen-wo-, from root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin" (cognates: Armenian henum "I weave;" Greek patos "garment," literally "that which is spun;" Lithuanian pinu "I plait, braid," spandau "I spin;" Middle Welsh cy-ffiniden "spider;" see span (v.)).

Intransitive senses of "to form threads from fibrous stuff; to twist, writhe" developed in late Old English. Transitive sense of "cause to turn rapidly" is from 1610s; intransitive meaning "revolve, turn around rapidly" first recorded 1660s. Meaning "attempt to influence reporters' minds after an event has taken place but before they have written about it" seems to have risen to popularity in the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign; as in spin doctor, first attested 1984.
tourney (v.): c. 1300, from Anglo-French turneier, Old French tornoier "to joust, tilt," literally "turn around," from Vulgar Latin *tornizare, from Latin tornare "to turn" (see turn (v.)). Related: Tourneying.
turn-around (n.): also turnaround, 1936, from verbal phrase turn around "reverse," 1880, American English, from turn (v.) + around (adv.).
vault (n.1): "arched roof or ceiling," c. 1300, vaute, from Old French voute "arch, vaulting, vaulted roof or chamber," from Vulgar Latin *volta, contraction of *volvita, noun use of fem. of *volvitus, alteration of Latin volutus "bowed, arched," past participle of volvere "to turn, turn around, roll" (see volvox). The -l- appeared in English c. 1400, an etymological insertion in imitation of earlier forms (compare fault (n.)).
vault (v.1): "jump or leap over," especially by aid of the hands or a pole, 1530s, transitive (implied in vaulting); 1560s, intransitive, from Middle French volter "to gambol, leap," from Italian voltare "to turn," from Vulgar Latin *volvitare "to turn, leap," frequentative of Latin volvere "to turn, turn around, roll" (see volvox). Related: Vaulted; vaulting.
voluble (adj.): early 15c., "liable to constant change," from Middle French voluble, from Latin volubilis "that turns around, rolling, flowing," figuratively (of speech) "fluent, rapid," from volvere "to turn around, roll" (see volvox). Meaning "fluent, talkative" first recorded 1580s. Related: Volubly.
volume (n.): late 14c., "roll of parchment containing writing; a bound book," from Old French volume "scroll, book; work, volume; girth, size" (13c.) and directly from Latin volumen (genitive voluminis) "roll (of a manuscript); coil, wreath," literally "that which is rolled," from volvere "to turn around, roll" (see volvox). Meaning "book forming part of a set" is 1520s in English, from that sense in French. Generalized sense of "bulk, mass, quantity" (1620s) developed from that of "bulk or size of a book" (1520s), again following the sense evolution in the French word.
volute (n.): 1690s, "spiral ornament on an Ionic capital," from French volute (16c.), from Italian voluta, from Latin voluta "a spiral scroll," noun use of fem. past participle of volvere "to turn around, roll" (see volvox). Extended 1756 to any spiral thing or part. As a type of spiral seashell, it is attested from 1753.