英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

charwoman [charwoman 词源字典]: charwoman: [16] A charwoman is, quite literally, a woman who does ‘chores’. Chore is a variant of the now obsolete noun chare or char, which meant literally ‘turn’ (it derived from the Old English verb cerran, which may be the source of charcoal). Hence ‘doing one’s turn’, ‘one’s turn at work’ in due course advanced its meaning to ‘job’. Already by the 15th century it had connotations of menial or household jobs: ‘making the beds and such other chares’, Nicholas Love, Bonaventura’s Mirror 1410.
=> ajar, chore[charwoman etymology, charwoman origin, 英语词源]
golliwog: golliwog: [19] It was Florence Upton (1873– 1922), an American-born illustrator and writer of children’s books, who dreamed up the blackfaced male doll we now know as the golliwog. It first appeared in the story The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls – and a ‘Golliwog’ 1895, with verses by Florence’s mother Bertha. The inspiration for the word may have been golly [19], a euphemism for God, and polliwog, an American term for a ‘tadpole’ (which came from Middle English polwygle, a compound of pol ‘head’ and the verb wiglen ‘wiggle’). The offensive wog [20] for ‘black person’ is probably short for golliwog.
sword: sword: [OE] Sword comes from a prehistoric Germanic *swertham, which also produced German schwert, Dutch zwaard, Swedish svärd, and Danish sværd. It is not known what its ultimate source was, although it has been speculated that it may have links with Old High German swerdo ‘pain’ – in which case its etymological meaning would be the ‘stinger, causer of pain’.
swot: swot: see sweat
two: two: [OE] Two is an ancient word, traceable right back to Indo-European *duwo. Amongst its other descendants were Greek dúo, Latin duo (source of English deuce, double, dual, duet, duo, etc), Russian dva, and Welsh dau. In the Germanic languages, aside from English, it has evolved into German zwei, Dutch twee, Swedish två, and Danish to. Two represents the Old English feminine and neuter forms twā; the masculine twegen has become twain.
=> between, deuce, double, dual, duet, duo, twain, twelve, twenty, twice, twig, twilight, twin, twist
werewolf: werewolf: [OE] Etymologically, a werewolf is probably a ‘man-wolf’. Its first element, were-, is generally assumed to be the same word as the long obsolete Old English noun wer ‘man’ (a relative of Latin vir ‘man’, from which English gets virile).
=> virile, world
wobble: wobble: see wave
wog: wog: see golliwog
wolf: wolf: [OE] Wolf is an ancient word, which has been traced back to Indo-European *wlqwos. This, or its variant *lukwos, also produced Greek lúkos (source of English lycanthropy ‘(delusion of) turning into a wolf’ [16]), Latin lupus (source of French loup, Italian lupo, and Spanish lobo, and probably also of English lupin [14]), Sanskrit vrkas, Russian volk, Polish wilk, Czech vlk, Serbo-Croat vuk, Lithuanian vilkas, Latvian vilks, Albanian u’lk, and Armenian gail. In prehistoric Germanic it gave *wulfaz, which has evolved into German, Dutch, and English wolf and Swedish and Danish ulv.
=> lupin, lycanthropy
woman: woman: [OE] A woman is etymologically a ‘wife-man’ – that is to say, a ‘female person’. The word was compounded in the Old English period from wīf ‘woman’ (source of modern English wife) and man ‘person’ (source of modern English man). Already by the end of the Old English period the f of wifman was disappearing, giving wiman, and the influence of the w sound started to turn this into woman in the 13th century. Woman did not finally oust the two more ancient words for ‘female person’, wife and the now obsolete quean, until the end of the Middle English period.
=> man, wife
wonder: wonder: [OE] Wonder is something of a mystery word. It is widespread in the Germanic languages (German has wunder, Dutch wonder, Swedish undran, and Danish undren, but its ultimate ancestry is unknown.
wont: wont: see wean
wood: wood: [OE] The ancestral meaning of wood is probably ‘collection of trees, forest’; ‘tree’ (now obsolete) and ‘substance from which trees are made’ are secondary developments. The word goes back to prehistoric Germanic *widuz, which also produced Swedish and Danish ved ‘firewood’, and it has Celtic relatives in Gaelic fiodh ‘wood, woods’, Welsh gwydd ‘trees’, and Breton gwez ‘trees’.

Its ultimate source is not known for certain, although it has been suggested that it may go back to the Indo- European base *weidh- ‘separate’ (source also of English divide and widow). According to this theory, it would originally have denoted a ‘separated’ or ‘remote’ piece of territory, near the outer edge or borders of known land; and since such remote, uninhabited areas were usually wooded, it came to denote ‘forest’ (forest itself may mean etymologically ‘outside area’, and the Old Norse word for ‘forest’, mork, originally signified ‘border area’).
wool: wool: [OE] Wool goes back to Indo-European *wlná, which also produced Latin lāna (source of English lanolin [19]), Czech vlna, Polish wełna, and Welsh gwlān (probable source of English flannel). In prehistoric Germanic it had become *wullō, which evolved into German wolle, Dutch wol, Swedish ull, Danish uld, and English wool.
=> flannel, lanolin
word: word: [OE] Word and verb are closely related. Both go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *wer- ‘speak, say’, which also produced Greek rhétōr ‘public speaker’ (source of English rhetoric), Latvian vārds ‘word’, and Lithuanian vardas ‘name’. Its prehistoric Germanic descendant was *wordam, which has given German wort, Dutch woord, Swedish and Danish ord, and English word.
=> verb
work: work: [OE] Work is at the centre of a small family of English words that go back ultimately to Indo- European *werg-, *worg- ‘do, work’ (other members include energy, organ, and orgy). From this base was formed the noun *wergon, which passed into prehistoric Germanic as *werkam, and evolved from there into German and Dutch werk, Swedish verk, and English work. Wright ‘craftsman’ [OE] (which now survives only in compounds) comes from the same source (with the transposition of r and the vowel), as does wrought, originally the past participle of the verb work.
=> energy, organ, orgy, wright, wrought
world: world: [OE] Etymologically, world means ‘age of man’. That is the basis of its earliest recorded sense, ‘earthly existence, human life’. But already by the 9th century it was being used for the ‘earth’ itself. It is a compound noun formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from *weraz ‘man’ (probable source of the were- of English werewolf and related to virile) and *ald- ‘age’ (ancestor of English old), and its relatives include German welt, Dutch wereld, Swedish verld, and Danish verden.
=> old, virile, werewolf
worm: worm: [OE] The ancestral meaning of worm appears to be ‘snake’; its application to smaller limbless creatures is a secondary development. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic *wurmiz, *wurmaz, which also produced German wurm, Dutch worm, and Danish orm ‘worm’ and Swedish orm ‘snake’. And this in turn went back to Indo-European *wrmi-, *wrmo- (source also of Latin vermis, from which English gets vermilion and vermin), a possible derivative of the base *wer- ‘turn, twist’ (source of English convert, reverse, etc) – in which case the worm would be etymologically the ‘twisting’ or ‘winding’ creature.
=> vermilion, vermin
wormwood: wormwood: see vermouth
worry: worry: [OE] Worry originally meant ‘strangle’. It comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *wurgjan, which also produced German wügen ‘choke, strangle’. The sense ‘harass physically’ (as in ‘dogs worrying sheep’) emerged in the 16th century, via an intermediate ‘seize by the throat’, and the modern sense ‘vex, disturb’ came on the scene in the 17th century, but the verb was not used intransitively until the mid- 19th century.
worse: worse: [OE] Worse goes back to prehistoric Germanic *wersizon. This was a comparative formation based on *wers-, which also produced English war and German wirren ‘confuse’. The superlative worst [OE] came from the same base.
worship: worship: [OE] Worship began life as a compound noun meaning virtually ‘worthiness’. It was formed from the adjective worth and the noun suffix -ship ‘state, condition’, and at first was used for ‘distinction, credit, dignity’. This soon passed into ‘respect, reverence’, but it was not used in specifically religious contexts until the 13th century. The verb dates from the 12th century.
=> worth
worth: worth: [OE] Worth is a general Germanic adjective, with relatives in German wert, Dutch waard, Swedish värd, and Danish værd (worth ‘value’ [OE] is a noun use of the adjective). Its ultimate ancestry is uncertain, although it has been speculated that it may go back to the Indo- European base *wer- ‘turn’, which also produced Latin vertere (source of English convert, version, etc), German werden ‘become’, and the now obsolete English verb worth ‘become’, not to mention English weird and possibly worm. Derived from worth are worship and worthy [13].
=> worship, worthy
would: would: [OE] Would goes back to wold-, the Old English past tense of will. Its vowel is inherited from the Indo-European variant *wol- (as in German wollen ‘will, want’), rather than the *wel- that produced the English present form will. Its use as an auxiliary to form the conditional dates back to the Old English period.
=> will
wound: wound: [OE] Wound is a widespread Germanic word, with relatives in German wunde, Dutch wond, and Icelandic und (Danish vunde is a reborrowing from Low German). Its ultimate origins are uncertain, but it has been speculated that it may go back to an Indo-European base *wen-, which also produced Welsh gwanu ‘stab’.
afterword (n.): 1890, a Saxonist subsitute for epilogue; from after + word (n.).
artwork (n.): also art-work, 1877, from art (n.) + work (n.).
awoke: past tense of awake (v.), from Old English awoc; also see awaken. The tendency has been to restrict the strong past tense (awoke) to the original intransitive sense of awake and the weak inflection (awakened) to the transitive, but this never has been complete.
awoken: past participle of awake (v.); also see awaken. The tendency has been to restrict the strong past participle (awoken) to the original intransitive sense of awake and the weak inflection (awakened) to the transitive, but this never has been complete.
awol (adj.): also a.w.o.l., military initialism (acronym) for absent without leave. The -o- seems to be there mostly so the assemblage can be pronounced as a word. In U.S. military use at least from World War II, popular use by 1960.
backwood (n.): 1709, American English, from back (adj.) + wood (n.) "forested tract." Also backwoods. As an adjective, from 1784.
BACKWOODSMEN ... This word is commonly used as a term of reproach (and that, only in a familiar style,) to designate those people, who, being at a distance from the sea and entirely agricultural, are considered as either hostile or indifferent to the interests of the commercial states. [John Pickering, "A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to be Peculiar to the United States of America," Boston, 1816]
blameworthy (adj.): also blame-worthy, late 14c., from blame (n.) + worthy (adj.). Related: Blameworthiness.
Bollywood: "film industry based in Mumbai, India," 1977, from Bombay (old name of Mumbai) + Hollywood.
bookworm (n.): 1590s (of people), 1855 of insects or maggots; there is no single species known by this name, which is applied to the anolium beetle, silverfishes, and book lice. See book (n.) + worm (n.).
bow-wow: imitative of a dog's barking, first recorded 1570s.
breastwork (n.): "fieldwork thrown up breast-high for defense," 1640s, from breast (n.) + work (n.) in "fortification" sense. Old English had breostweall in same sense.
broadsword (n.): Old English brad swurd, from broad (adj.) + sword.
busy-work (n.): also busy work, 1910, from busy (adj.) + work (n.).
buttonwood (n.): also button-wood, "North American plane tree," 1690s, from button (n.) + wood (n.). So called for their characteristic round fruit.
buzzword (n.): also buzz word, 1946, from buzz (n.) + word (n.). Noted as Harvard student slang for the key words in a lecture or reading. Perhaps from the use of buzz in the popular counting game.
byword (n.): also by-word, Old English biword "proverb," formed on the model of Latin proverbium or Greek parabole. Meaning "something that has become proverbial" is from 1530s.
care-worm (n.): a word listed in 2nd print edition OED, whose editors found it once, in the 1598 edition of W. Phillip's translation of John Huyghen van Linschoten's account of his voyage to the East Indies, and marked it "? error for EAREWORM." But care-worm could be a useful word.
careworn (adj.): 1828, from care (n.) + worn.
case-work (n.): 1896, from case (n.1) in the clinical sense + work (n.). Related: Case-worker (1909).
catchword (n.): 1730, "the first word of the following page inserted at the lower right-hand corner of each page of a book," from catch (v.) + word (n.); extended to "word caught up and repeated" (especially in the political sense) by 1795. The literal sense is extinct; the figurative sense thrives.
chairwoman (n.): "woman who leads a formal meeting," 1752, from chair (n.) + woman.
charwoman (n.): 1590s, from Middle English char, cherre "turn of work" (see chore) + woman. An Alicia Charwoman appears in the Borough of Nottingham records in 1379.
clergywoman (n.): 1670s, a nun, from clergy + man (n.). Not seriously as "woman pastor" until 1871; in between it was used humorously for "old woman" or "domineering wife of a clergyman." Compare clergyman.
clockwork (n.): also clock-work, 1660s, "mechanism of a clock," from clock (n.1) + work (n.). Figurative sense of "anything of unvarying regularity" is recorded earlier (1620s).
collywobbles (n.): 1823, fanciful formation from colic and wobble.