英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

birch [birch 词源字典]: birch: [OE] Old English bi(e)rce came from a prehistoric Germanic *berkjōn, source also of German birke. The word goes back ultimately to an Indo-European *bhergo, but as is often the case with ancient tree-names, it does not denote the same type of tree in every language in which it has descendants: Latin fraxinus, for example, means ‘ash tree’. It has been speculated that the word is related to bright (whose Indo-European source was *bhereg-), with reference to the tree’s light-coloured bark.

It could also be that the word bark [13] itself is related. The verb birch ‘flog’ (originally with a birch rod or bunch of birch twigs) is early 19th-century.
=> bark, bright[birch etymology, birch origin, 英语词源]
broom: broom: [OE] Broom was originally the name of the yellow-flowered bush; its application to the long-handled brush did not come about until the 15th century (the underlying notion is of a brush made from broom twigs tied to a handle). The plant-name occurs throughout the Germanic languages, but it is applied to quite a wide range of plants: Old High German brāmma, for instance, is a ‘wild rose’; Old Saxon hiopbrāmio is a ‘hawthorn bush’; and English bramble probably comes from the same source.
=> bramble
browse: browse: [16] Although the noun has now largely died out, browse was originally both a verb and a noun, and appears to come from Old French broust, brost ‘young shoots, twigs’ (hence the verb meant originally ‘feed on such shoots’). The source of the French word is not clear, but it is probably ultimately Germanic; a certain similarity in form and meaning has suggested a connection with the Old Saxon verb brustian ‘bud’ which, if it were so, would mean that browse is related to breast. The modern figurative sense, applied to shops, libraries, etc seems to be 19th-century.
brush: brush: [14] It is not clear whether brush for sweeping and brush as in brushwood are the same word, although both appeared in the language at about the same time, from a French source. Brush ‘broken branches’ comes from brousse, the Anglo-Norman version of Old French broce, which goes back to an unrecorded Vulgar Latin *bruscia. Brush for sweeping, on the other hand, comes from Old French broisse or brosse.

It is tempting to conclude that this is a variant of Old French broce, particularly in view of the plausible semantic link that brushwood (cut twigs, etc) bundled together and tied to a handle makes a serviceable brush (that is how broom came to mean ‘brush’). The verb brush ‘move fast or heedlessly’ comes from Old French brosser ‘dash through undergrowth’, a derivative of broce; its frequent modern connotation of ‘touching in passing’ comes from the other brush.
brusque: brusque: [17] Brusque comes ultimately from the name of an unpleasant spiky shrub, the butcher’s broom, which instead of normal branches and leaves has twigs flattened into a leaflike shape, with at their ends stiff spines. The term for this in Vulgar Latin was *bruscum, which, passing into Italian as brusco, came to be used as an adjective, meaning ‘sharp, tart’. French borrowed it as brusque ‘lively, fierce’, and passed it on to English. It seems likely that English brisk [16] is derived from it.
=> brisk
besom (n.): Old English besma "bundle of twigs" (used as a broom or a flail), from West Germanic *besmon (cognates: Old Frisian besma, Old Saxon besmo, Old High German besmo, German Besen, Dutch bezem), which is of unknown origin. Perhaps "something bound or twisted," from PIE *bheidh-.
birch (n.): Old English berc, beorc (also the name of the rune for "b"), from Proto-Germanic *berkjon (cognates: Old Saxon birka, Old Norse börk, Danish birk, Swedish björk, Middle Dutch berke, Dutch berk, Old High German birihha, German Birke), from PIE *bhergo (cognates: Ossetian barz, Old Church Slavonic breza, Russian bereza, Lithuanian beržas, Sanskrit bhurjah, Latin farnus, fraxinus "mountain ash"), from root *bhereg- "to gleam, white." Meaning "bunch of birch twigs used for flogging" (1640s) led to verb meaning "to flog" (1830). Related: Birched; birching. Birch beer is by 1827, American English.
broom (n.): Old English brom "broom, brushwood," the common flowering shrub whose twigs were tied together to make a tool for sweeping, from Proto-Germanic *bræmaz "thorny bush" (cognates: Dutch braam, German Brombeere "blackberry"), from PIE root *bh(e)rem- "to project, a point."

Traditionally, both the flowers and sweeping with broom twigs were considered unlucky in May (Suffolk, Sussex, Wiltshire, etc.). The witch's flying broomstick originally was one among many such objects (pitchfork, trough, bowl), but the broomstick became fixed as the popular tool of supernatural flight via engravings from a famous Lancashire witch trial of 1612.
faggot (n.1): late 13c., "bundle of twigs bound up," also fagald, faggald, from Old French fagot "bundle of sticks" (13c.), of uncertain origin, probably from Italian faggotto "bundle of sticks," diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Latin fascis "bundle of wood" (see fasces).

Especially used for burning heretics (emblematic of this from 1550s), so that phrase fire and faggot was used to indicate "punishment of a heretic." Heretics who recanted were required to wear an embroidered figure of a faggot on the sleeve as an emblem and reminder of what they deserved.
fiscal (adj.): 1560s, "pertaining to public revenue," from Middle French fiscal, from Late Latin fiscalis "of or belonging to the state treasury," from Latin fiscus "state treasury," originally "money bag, purse, basket made of twigs (in which money was kept)," which is of unknown origin. The etymological notion is of the public purse. The general sense of "financial" (1865, American English) was abstracted from phrases fiscal calendar, fiscal year, etc. Related: Fiscally.
hurdle (n.): Old English hyrdel "frame of intertwined twigs used as a temporary barrier," diminutive of hyrd "door," from Proto-Germanic *hurdiz "wickerwork frame, hurdle" (cognates: Old Saxon hurth "plaiting, netting," Dutch horde "wickerwork," German Hürde "hurdle, fold, pen;" Old Norse hurð, Gothic haurds "door"), from PIE *krtis (cognates: Latin cratis "hurdle, wickerwork," Greek kartalos "a kind of basket," kyrtos "fishing creel"), from root *kert- "to weave, twist together" (cognates: Sanskrit krt "to spin"). Sense of "barrier to jump in a race" is by 1822; figurative sense of "obstacle" is 1924.
lop (v.1): "cut off," 1510s, from Middle English loppe (n.) "small branches and twigs trimmed from trees" (early 15c.), of unknown origin. Related: Lopped (mid-15c.); lopping. Place name Loppedthorn is attested from 1287.
moon (n.): Old English mona, from Proto-Germanic *menon- (cognates: Old Saxon and Old High German mano, Old Frisian mona, Old Norse mani, Danish maane, Dutch maan, German Mond, Gothic mena "moon"), from PIE *me(n)ses- "moon, month" (cognates: Sanskrit masah "moon, month;" Avestan ma, Persian mah, Armenian mis "month;" Greek mene "moon," men "month;" Latin mensis "month;" Old Church Slavonic meseci, Lithuanian menesis "moon, month;" Old Irish mi, Welsh mis, Breton miz "month"), probably from root *me- "to measure," in reference to the moon's phases as the measure of time.

A masculine noun in Old English. In Greek, Italic, Celtic, Armenian the cognate words now mean only "month." Greek selene (Lesbian selanna) is from selas "light, brightness (of heavenly bodies)." Old Norse also had tungl "moon," ("replacing mani in prose" - Buck), evidently an older Germanic word for "heavenly body," cognate with Gothic tuggl, Old English tungol "heavenly body, constellation," of unknown origin or connection. Hence Old Norse tunglfylling "lunation," tunglœrr "lunatic" (adj.).

Extended 1665 to satellites of other planets. To shoot the moon "leave without paying rent" is British slang from c. 1823; card-playing sense perhaps influenced by gambler's shoot the works (1922) "go for broke" in shooting dice. The moon race and the U.S. space program of the 1960s inspired a number of coinages, including, from those skeptical of the benefits to be gained, moondoggle (based on boondoggle). The man in the moon is mentioned since early 14c.; he carries a bundle of thorn-twigs and is accompanied by a dog. Some Japanese, however, see a rice-cake-making rabbit in the moon.
perch (n.1): "where a bird rests," late 13c., originally only "a pole, rod, stick, stake," from Old French perche "unit of linear measurement" (5.5 yards), also "measuring rod, pole, bar" used to measure this length (13c.), from Latin pertica "pole, long staff, measuring rod," related to Oscan perek "pole," Umbrian perkaf "twigs, rods." Meaning "a bar fixed horizontally for a hawk or tame bird to rest on" is attested from late 14c.; this led to general sense of "any thing that any bird alights or rests on" (late 15c.). Figurative sense of "an elevated or secure position" is recorded from 1520s. The "land-measuring rod" sense also was in Middle English (c. 1200), hence surviving meaning "measure of land equal to a square lineal perch" (usually 160 to the acre), mid-15c.
scopa (n.): tuft of hairs on a bee's leg, from Latin scopae (plural) "twigs, shoots; a broom, brush," related to scapus "shaft" (see scape (n.2)).
surculation (n.): "act of pruning," 1660s, noun of action from past participle stem of Latin surculare "chear of shoots or twigs," from surculus "tender young shoot, twig, sprout, sucker."
tete (n.): as a type of women's tall dressed hair or wig, 1756, from French tête "head," Old French teste, from Latin testa, literally "piece of earthenware, tile, potsherd; earthen pot, pitcher, jug; shell of shellfish," related to Latin testudo "tortoise" and texere "to weave" (compare Lithuanian tištas "vessel made of willow twigs;" see texture (n.)).

The "head" sense arose in Vulgar Latin, perhaps as a humorous use of the "jug, pot" meaning, or via Late Latin use of testa as "skull," from testa (capitis) "shell (of the head)." Compare German Kopf "head" from the root of English cup (n.).
trash (n.): late 14c., "thing of little use or value, waste, refuse, dross," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse tros "rubbish, fallen leaves and twigs," Norwegian dialectal trask "lumber, trash, baggage," Swedish trasa "rags, tatters"), of unknown origin. Applied to ill-bred persons or groups from 1604 ("Othello"), and especially of poor whites in the U.S. South by 1831. Applied to domestic refuse or garbage from 1906 (American English). Trash-can attested from 1914. To trash-talk someone or something is by 1989.
twiggy (adj.): "slender," 1560s, from twig + -y (2). The famous 1960s English model was born Lesley Hornby (1949). The older adjectival form was twiggen "made of twigs" (1540s).
verbena (n.): genus of plants, the vervain, 1560s, from Latin verbena "leaves or twigs of olive, myrtle, laurel, or other sacred plants employed in religious ceremonies," from PIE *werbh- (cognates: Lithuanian virbas "twig, branch, scion, rod"), from root *werb- "to turn, bend" (see warp (v.)).
wattle (n.1): "stakes interlaced with twigs and forming the framework of the wall of a building," Old English watol "hurdle," in plural "twigs, thatching, tiles," related to weðel "bandage," from Proto-Germanic *wadlaz, from PIE *au- (3) "to weave" (see weeds). Surviving in wattle-and-daub "building material for huts, etc." (1808).
wicker (n.): mid-14c., "wickerwork," from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish viger, Middle Swedish viker "willow, willow branch"), from Proto-Germanic *wik- (cognates: Old Norse vikja "to move, turn," Swedish vika "to bend," Old English wican "to give way, yield"), from PIE root *weik- (4) "to bend, twine" (see weak). The notion is of pliant twigs. As an adjective, "made of wicker," from c. 1500.
drey: "The nest of a squirrel, typically in the form of a mass of twigs in a tree", Early 17th century: of unknown origin.