quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- consummate



[consummate 词源字典] - consummate: see sum
[consummate etymology, consummate origin, 英语词源] - mummer




- mummer: see mumps
- mummy




- mummy: English has two words mummy. The one meaning ‘mother’ [19], although not recorded in print until comparatively recently, is one of a range of colloquial ‘mother’-words, such as mama and mammy, that go back ultimately to the syllable ma, imitative of a suckling baby (see MAMMAL and MOTHER), and was probably common in dialect speech much earlier. The 19th century saw its adoption into the general language.
The abbreviation mum [19] has a parallel history. The Egyptian mummy [14] comes ultimately from Arabic mūmiyā ‘embalmed body’, a derivative of mūm ‘embalming wax’, but when it first arrived in English (via medieval Latin mumia and Old French mumie) it was used for a ‘medicinal ointment prepared from mummified bodies’ (‘Take myrrh, sarcocol [a gum-resin], and mummy … and lay it on the nucha [spinal cord]’, Lanfranc’s Science of Cirurgie, c. 1400).
The word’s original sense ‘embalmed body’ did not emerge in English until the early 17th century.
=> mama, mammy - plummet




- plummet: see plumb
- rummage




- rummage: [16] Rummage is etymologically ‘roomage’. It originally denoted the ‘stowage of cargo in a ship’s hold’. It came from Anglo- Norman *rumage, a reduced form of Old French arrumage. This was derived from the verb arrumer ‘stow in a hold’, which itself was based on run ‘ship’s hold’. And this in turn was borrowed from Middle Dutch ruim ‘space’, a relative of English room. The verb rummage, derived from the noun, was also used for ‘search a ship’s hold’, which is where the modern notion of ‘rummaging around’ comes from.
=> room - scrummage




- scrummage: see skirmish
- summer




- summer: [OE] Summer is a general Germanic word, with relatives in German and Danish sommer, Dutch zomer, and Swedish sommar. It goes back ultimately to an Indo-European base *sem-, which also produced Welsh haf ‘summer’ and Sanskrit sámā ‘year, season’.
- summit




- summit: see sum
- summon




- summon: see monster
- brummagem (adj.)




- "cheap and showy," 19c., from a noun, from the vulgar pronunciation of Birmingham, England, in reference to articles mass-manufactured there. The word also recalls Birmingham's old reputation for counterfeiting.
- bummer (n.)




- "loafer, idle person," 1855, possibly an extension of the British word for "backside" (similar development took place in Scotland by 1540), but more probably from German slang bummler "loafer," agent noun from bummeln "go slowly, waste time."
According to Kluge, the German word is from 17c., and the earliest sense of it is "oscillate back and forth;" possibly connected to words in German for "dangle" (baumeln), via "back-and-forth motion" of a bell clapper, transferred to "going back and forth," hence "doing nothing." Meaning "bad experience" is 1968 slang. - chummy (adj.)




- 1874, from chum (n.1) + -y (2). Related: Chumminess. Previously it was a noun, a common name for a chimney sweep, as a corruption of chinmey.
- consummate (adj.)




- mid-15c., from Latin consummatus "perfected, complete," past participle of consummare "sum up, complete" (see consummation). Of persons, "accomplished, very qualified," from 1640s. Related: Consummately.
- consummate (v.)




- 1520s, "to bring to completion," from Latin consummatus, past participle of consummare "to sum up, make up, complete, finish" (see consummation). Meaning "to bring a marriage to completion" (by sexual intercourse) is from 1530s. Related: Consummated; consummating.
- consummated (adj.)




- 1640s, "perfected," past participle adjective from consummate (v.). Of marriage, from 1709; earlier consummate (adj.) was used in this sense (1530s).
- consummation (n.)




- late 14c., "completion," from Latin consummationem (nominative consummatio), from consummat-, past participle stem of consummare "to sum up, finish," from com- "together" (see com-) + summa "sum, total," from summus "highest" (see sum (n.)). Sense of "completion of a marriage (by sexual intercourse)" is c. 1530.
- crummy (adj.)




- 1560s, "easily crumbled;" 1570s, "like bread," from crumb + -y (2). The second sense probably accounts for 18c. (and later in dialects) use, of a woman, "attractively plump, full-figured, buxom." Slang meaning "shoddy, filthy, inferior, poorly made" in use by 1859, probably is from the first sense, but influenced by crumb in its slang sense of "louse."
- cummerbund (n.)




- 1610s, from Hindi kamarband "loin band," from Persian kamar "waist" + band "something that ties," from Avestan banda- "bond, fetter," from PIE root *bhendh- "to bind" (see bend (v.)).
- cummin (n.)




- alternative spelling of cumin.
- drummer (n.)




- 1570s, agent noun from drum (v.).
- Drummond light (n.)




- "torch that burns calcium oxide (lime) and gives off intense white light," 1854, named for Scottish engineer Capt. Thomas Drummond, R.E., (1797-1840), who invented it c. 1825.
- dummkopf (n.)




- 1809 (dom cop), from German dummkopf, literally "dumb head;" see dumb (adj.) + cup (n.).
- dummy (n.)




- 1590s, "mute person," from dumb (adj.) + -y (3). Extended by 1845 to "figure representing a person." Used in card games (originally whist) since 1736. Meaning "dolt, blockhead" is from 1796.
- flummery (n.)




- 1620s, a type of coagulated food, from Welsh llymru "sour oatmeal jelly boiled with the husks," of uncertain origin. Later of a sweet dish in cookery (1747). Figurative use, of flattery, empty talk, is from 1740s.
- flummox (v.)




- 1837, cant word, also flummux, of uncertain origin, probably risen out of a British dialect (OED finds candidate words in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, southern Cheshire, and Sheffield). "The formation seems to be onomatopœic, expressive of the notion of throwing down roughly and untidily" [OED]. Related: Flummoxed; flummoxing.
- gummy (adj.)




- "gum-like, sticky," late 14c., from gum (n.1) + -y (2). Related: Gumminess.
- hummer (n.)




- c. 1600, agent noun from hum (v.). Meaning "energetic person or thing" is 1680s; that of "excellent person or thing" is slang from 1907. As short for Humvee, attested from 1983.
- hummock (n.)




- "knoll, hillock," 1550s, originally nautical, "conical small hill on a seacoast," of obscure origin, though second element is diminutive suffix -ock. In Florida, where the local form is hammock, it means a clump of hardwood trees on a knoll in a swamp or on a key.
- hummus (n.)




- 1955, from Turkish humus "mashed chick peas."
- Indian summer (n.)




- "spell of warm weather after the first frost," first recorded 1778, American English, perhaps so called because it was first noted in regions inhabited by Indians, or because the Indians first described it to the Europeans. No evidence connects it with the color of fall leaves or a season of Indian attacks on settlements. It is the American version of British All-Hallows summer, French été de la Saint-Martin (feast day Nov. 11), etc. Also colloquial was St. Luke's summer (or little summer), period of warm weather occurring about St. Luke's day (Oct. 18).
- krummhorn (n.)




- also crummhorn, "curved wind instrument," 1864, from German, literally "crooked horn," from krumm "curved, crooked."
- lummox (n.)




- 1825, East Anglian slang, perhaps from dumb ox, influenced by lumbering; or from E. Anglian dialectal form of verb lummock "move heavily or clumsily," of uncertain origin.
- midsummer (n.)




- Old English midsumor, from mid + sumor "summer" (see summer (n.1)). Midsummer Day, as an English quarter-day, was June 24. Astronomically June 21, but traditionally reckoned in Europe on the night of June 23-24.
- mummer (n.)




- "one who performs in a mumming, actor in a dumb show," early 15c., probably a fusion of Middle French momeur "mummer" (from Old French momer "mask oneself," from momon "mask") and Middle English mommen "to mutter, be silent," related to mum (interjection).
- mummery (n.)




- 1520s, "performance of mumming," from Old French mommerie, from momer (see mummer). Transferred sense of "ridiculous ceremony or ritual" is from 1540s.
- mummification (n.)




- 1800, from mummy + -fication.
- mummify (v.)




- 1620s, from French momifier, from momie "mummy," from Medieval Latin mumia (see mummy) + -fier "to make into" (see -fy). Related: Mummified; mummifying.
- mummy (n.1)




- c. 1400, "medicine prepared from mummy tissue," from Medieval Latin mumia, from Arabic mumiyah "embalmed body," from Persian mumiya "asphalt," from mum "wax." Sense of "embalmed body" first recorded in English 1610s. Mummy wheat (1842) was said to be cultivated from grains found in mummy-cases.
- mummy (n.2)




- 1784, childish alteration of mammy. Alternative form mumsy attested by 1876.
- plummet (n.)




- late 14c., "ball of lead, plumb of a bob-line," from Old French plomet "graphite, lead; plummet, sounding lead," diminutive of plom "sounding lead" (see plumb (n.)).
- plummet (v.)




- 1620s, "to fathom, take soundings," from plummet (n.). Meaning "to fall rapidly" first recorded 1933, perhaps originally among aviators. Related: Plummeted; plummeting.
- pummel (v.)




- 1540s, alteration of pommel in the verbal sense of "to beat repeatedly." In early use pumble, poumle; current spelling from c. 1600. Related: Pummeled; pummeling.
- rummage (v.)




- 1540s, "arrange (cargo) in a ship," from rummage (n.), 1520s, "act of arranging cargo in a ship," a shortening of Middle French arrumage "arrangement of cargo," from arrumer "to stow goods in the hold of a ship," from a- "to" + rumer, probably from Germanic (compare Old Norse rum "compartment in a ship," Old High German rum "space," Old English rum; see room (n.)). Or else from English room (n.) + -age.
Meaning "to search closely (the hold of a ship), especially by moving things about" first recorded 1610s. Related: Rummaged; rummaging. Rummage sale (1803) originally was a sale at docks of unclaimed goods. - rummy (n.)




- card game, 1910, rhummy, of unknown origin. Gin rummy is first attested 1941. Meaning "drunkard" is 1851, from rum (n.). Meaning "opponent of temperance" in U.S. politics is from 1860.
- scummy (adj.)




- 1570s, from scum + -y (2). Transferred sense of "filthy, disreputable" is recorded from 1932. Related: Scumminess.
- slummy (adj.)




- 1873, from slum (n.) + -y (2). Related: Slummily; slumminess.
- summa cum laude




- Latin, literally "with highest praise."
- summarily (adv.)




- 1520s, "briefly, in few words," from summary + -ly (2). Meaning "without hesitation or formality" is from 1620s.
- summarise (v.)




- chiefly British English spelling of summarize; for suffix, see -ize. Related: Summarised; summarising; summarisation.
- summarization (n.)




- 1860, noun of action from summarize.