英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

howitzer [howitzer 词源字典]: howitzer: [17] Czech houfnice denotes a ‘large catapult’ for hurling stones at the enemy. It was borrowed into German as houfenitz, and this made its way into English as howitz at the end of the 17th century. This had died out within a hundred years, but at around the same time English acquired howitzer, probably via Dutch houwitser, which has stood the test of time.
[howitzer etymology, howitzer origin, 英语词源]
obtuse: obtuse: [16] The etymological meaning of obtuse is ‘beaten down, blunted’. It comes from Latin obtūsus, the past participle of obtundere, a compound verb formed from the prefix ob- ‘against’ and tundere ‘beat’ (source of English contusion and related to toil). The notion of being ‘dulled’ or ‘blunted’ led to its being used for ‘having dulled wits, stupid’, and the idea of bluntness also lies behind its geometrical use for an angle of more than 90 degrees (as contrasted with the ‘sharp’ acute angle).
=> contusion, toil
wit: wit: Both the noun wit [OE] and the verb [OE] go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *woid-, *weid-, *wid-. This originally meant ‘see’, in which sense it has given English visible, vision, etc, but it developed metaphorically to ‘know’, and it is this sense that lies behind English wit. The noun to begin with denoted ‘mind, understanding, judgement, sense’ (a meaning preserved in expressions such as ‘keep one’s wits about one’ and ‘slow-witted’), and the modern sense ‘clever humorousness’ did not begin to emerge until the 16th century.

The verb has now virtually died out, except in the expression to wit. Witness is etymologically the state of ‘knowing’. Other English words that come from the same Indo-European base or its Germanic descendant include guide, history, idea, story, and twit.
=> guide, guise, history, idea, story, twit, vision, wise, witness
Algonquin: one of an Indian people living near the Ottawa River in Canada, 1620s, from French Algonquin, perhaps a contraction of Algoumequin, from Micmac algoomeaking "at the place of spearing fish and eels." But Bright suggests Maliseet (Algonquian) elægomogwik "they are our relatives or allies."

Algonquian (1885) was the name taken by ethnologists to describe a large group of North American Indian peoples, including this tribe. Algonquin Hotel (59 W. 44th St., Manhattan) opened 1902 and named by manager Frank Case for the tribe that had lived in that area. A circle of journalists, authors, critics, and wits began meeting there daily in 1919 and continued through the twenties; they called themselves "The Vicious Circle," but to others they became "The Round Table."
beside (prep.): Old English be sidan "by the side of" (only as two words), from be- + sidan dative of side (n.). By 1200, formed as one word and used as both adverb and preposition. The alternative Middle English meaning "outside" led to the sense preserved in beside oneself "out of one's wits" (late 15c.).
dizzy (adj.): Old English dysig "foolish, stupid," from Proto-Germanic *dusijaz (cognates: Low German düsig "dizzy," Dutch duizelen "to be dizzy," Old High German dusig "foolish," German Tor "fool," Old English dwæs, Dutch dwaas "foolish"), perhaps from PIE *dheu- (1) "dust, vapor, smoke; to rise in a cloud" (and related notions of "defective perception or wits").

Meaning "having a whirling sensation" is from mid-14c.; that of "giddy" is from c. 1500 and seems to merge the two earlier meanings. Used of the "foolish virgins" in early translations of Matthew xxv; used especially of blondes since 1870s. Related: Dizzily.
dull (adj.): c. 1200, "stupid;" early 13c., "blunt, not sharp;" rare before mid-14c., apparently from Old English dol "dull-witted, foolish," or an unrecorded parallel word, or from Middle Low German dul "slow-witted," both from Proto-Germanic *dulaz (cognates: Old Frisian and Old Saxon dol "foolish," Old High German tol, German toll "mad, wild," Gothic dwals "foolish"), from PIE *dheu- (1) "dust, vapor, smoke" (and related notions of "defective perception or wits"). Of color from early 15c.; of pain or other sensations from 1725. Sense of "boring" first recorded 1580s.
dull. (8) Not exhilarating; not delightful; as to make dictionaries is dull work. [Johnson]
Dullsville, slang for "town where nothing happens," attested from 1960.
dumb (adj.): Old English dumb "silent, unable to speak," from PIE *dheubh- "confusion, stupefaction, dizziness," from root *dheu- (1) "dust, mist, vapor, smoke," and related notions of "defective perception or wits."

The Old English, Old Saxon (dumb), Gothic (dumbs), and Old Norse (dumbr) forms of the word meant only "mute, speechless;" in Old High German (thumb) it meant both this and "stupid," and in Modern German this latter became the only sense. Meaning "foolish, ignorant" was occasionally in Middle English, but modern use (1823) comes from influence of German dumm. Related: dumber; dumbest.

Applied to silent contrivances, hence dumbwaiter. As a verb, in late Old English, "to become mute;" c. 1600, "to make mute." To dumb (something) down is from 1933.
dwell (v.): Old English dwellan "to mislead, deceive," originally "to make a fool of, lead astray," from Proto-Germanic *dwelan "to go or lead astray" (cognates: Old Norse dvöl "delay," dvali "sleep;" Middle Dutch dwellen "to stun, make giddy, perplex;" Old High German twellen "to hinder, delay;" Danish dvale "trance, stupor," dvaelbær "narcotic berry," source of Middle English dwale "nightshade"), from PIE *dhwel-, extended form of root *dheu- (1) "dust, cloud, vapor, smoke" (and related notions of "defective perception or wits").

Related to Old English gedweola "error, heresy, madness." Sense shifted in Middle English through "hinder, delay," to "linger" (c. 1200, as still in phrase to dwell upon), to "make a home" (mid-13c.). Related: Dwelled; dwelt; dwells.
half-wit (n.): "simpleton" (one lacking all his wits), 1755, from half + wit (n.). Earlier "a would-be wit whose abilities are mediocre" (1670s).
Half-wits are fleas; so little and so light,
We scarce could know they live, but that they bite.
[Dryden, "All for Love"]
Phrase out of half wit "half out of one's mind" was in Middle English (late 14c.). Half-witted "lacking common sense" is from 1640s.
howitzer (n.): 1680s, via Dutch houwitser (1660s), German Haubitze from Bohemian houfnice "a catapult," from houf "heap, crowd," a loan-word from Middle High German hufe "heap." Introduced to German during the Hussite wars, 14c.
Nimzo-Indian (adj.): type of defensive opening in chess, 1935, in reference to Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935), Latvian-born Jewish chess genius who popularized it, a variation of the Indian defense (late 19c.) attributed to Indian chess player Moheschunder Bannerjee.
outwit (v.): "to get the better of by superior wits," 1650s, from out + wit. Related: Outwitted; outwitting.
phreno-: before vowels phren-, word-forming element meaning "mind," also "diaphragm," from Greek phreno-, comb. form of phrene properly "diaphragm, muscle which parts the abdomen from the thorax;" in Homer extended to "parts around the heart, breast," hence "heart" (as a seat of passions), "mind, seat of thoughts, wits, senses," of unknown origin.
pons (n.): "bridge," in various Latin expressions, from Latin pons "bridge, connecting gallery, walkway," earlier probably "way, passage," from PIE *pent- "to go, tread" (see find (v.)). Especially pons asinorum "bridge of asses," nickname for the fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid, which beginners and slow wits find difficulty in "getting over": if two sides of a triangle are equal, the angles opposite these sides also are equal.
seamy (adj.): c. 1600, "least pleasant, worst," in figurative phrase seamy side, from seam + -y (2); the seamy side of a sewn garment being the less attractive, and thus typically turned in. The popularity of the figurative sense likely is due to its use by Shakespeare in "Othello" IV.ii.146: "Some such Squire he was That turn'd your wits the seamy-side without, And made you to suspect me with the Moore."
shark (v.): c. 1600, "to live by one's wits," of uncertain origin (see shark (n.)); according to OED, at least partly a variant of shirk. Meaning "obtain by sharking" is from 1610s. Related: Sharked; sharking.
sparkler (n.): 1713, "what sparkles" (often of gems, wits, or women), agent noun from sparkle (v.). In the modern hand-held fireworks sense, from 1905.
The New York Board of Fire Underwriters has issued a warning against the storage, sale and use of a new form of fireworks now on the market. These are known as "electric sparklers," are made in Germany, and come to this country in metal lined cases each containing 120 dozen of pasteboard boxes with 12 sparklers in each box. The Board's warning says that while the sparklers appear harmless, the solid incandescent mass is intensely hot and readily communicates fire to any inflammable substance it may touch. ["The Standard" (weekly insurance newspaper), Boston, May 4, 1907]
twitter (v.): late 14c., twiteren, in reference to birds, of imitative origin (compare Old High German zwizziron, German zwitschern, Danish kvidre, Old Swedish kvitra). The noun meaning "condition of tremulous excitement" is attested from 1670s. The microblogging service with the 140-character limit was introduced in 2006. The following is considered an unrelated word of obscure origin:
TWITTER. 1. "That part of a thread that is spun too small." Yarn is said to be twined to twitters, when twined too small, S. Hence, to twitter yarn, to spin it unequally, A. Bor. Ray.
2. It is transferred to any person or thing that is slender or feeble. It is said of a lank delicate girl: "She is a mere twitter," S. [Jamieson, "Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language," Edinburgh, 1808]
Venus: late Old English, from Latin Venus (plural veneres), in ancient Roman mythology, the goddess of beauty and love, especially sensual love, from venus "love, sexual desire; loveliness, beauty, charm; a beloved object," from PIE root *wen- (1) "to strive after, wish, desire" (cognates: Sanskrit veti "follows after," vanas- "desire," vanati "desires, loves, wins;" Avestan vanaiti "he wishes, is victorious," vayeiti "hunts;" Lithuanian veju "to hunt, pursue;" Old Church Slavonic voji "warrior;" Old English waþ "hunting," wynn "joy," wunian "to dwell," wenian "to accustom, train, wean," wyscan "to wish;" Old Norse veiðr "chase, hunting, fishing"). Applied by the Romans to Greek Aphrodite, Egyptian Hathor, etc.

Applied in English to any beautiful, attractive woman by 1570s. As the name of the most brilliant planet from late 13c., from this sense in Latin (Old English called it morgensteorra and æfensteorra). The venus fly-trap (Dionæa muscipula) was discovered 1760 by Gov. Arthur Dobbs in North Carolina and description sent to Collinson in England. The Central Atlantic Coast Algonquian name for the plant, /titipiwitshik/, yielded regional American English tippity wichity.
witted (adj.): late 14c. in compounds, "having wits" (of a certain kind), from wit (n.).