英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

aspirin [aspirin 词源字典]: aspirin: [19] The word aspirin was coined in German towards the end of the 19th century. It is a condensed version of the term acetylierte spirsäure ‘acetylated spiraeic acid’. Spiraeic acid is a former term for ‘salicylic acid’, from which aspirin is derived; its name comes from the spiraea, a plant of the rose family.
=> spiraea[aspirin etymology, aspirin origin, 英语词源]
ass: ass: [OE] Ass comes ultimately from Latin asinus ‘donkey’ (whence English asinine [16]), and English probably acquired it via a Celtic route, from a prehistoric Old Celtic *as(s)in (source of Welsh asyn). As borrowed directly into the Germanic languages, by contrast, the n of Latin asinus changed to l; from this branch of the word’s travels Old English had esol, long defunct, and Dutch has ezel, which English has appropriated as easel. Further back in time the word’s antecedents are unclear, but some would trace it to Sumerian ansu, which could also be the source of Greek ónos (whence English onager ‘wild ass’ [14]) and Armenian eš.
=> easel, onager
assassin: assassin: [17] Etymologically, an assassin is an ‘eater or smoker of hashish’, the drug cannabis. In the Middle Ages, in the area of the Middle East and modern Iran, there was a sect of fanatical Ismaili Muslims, founded in the late 11th century by Hassan ibn Sabbah. Its members killed the sect’s opponents under the influence of cannabis. Hence the hashshāshīn (plural of hashshāsh, Arabic for ‘hashish-eater’) came to have a reputation as murderers. In English the Arabic plural form was perceived as singular. The word has retained its connotation of one who kills for political or religious rather than personal motives.
=> hashish
assault: assault: [13] To assault somebody was originally to ‘jump on’ them. The word comes from a Vulgar Latin compound verb *assaltāre, formed from the prefix ad- ‘to’ and saltāre ‘jump’, a frequentative form (denoting repeated action) of the verb salīre ‘jump’ (which is the source of English salient, and by a similar compounding process produced assail [13]). In Old French this became asauter, and English originally borrowed it as asaute, but in the 16th century the l was reintroduced.
=> assail, somersault
assay: assay: see essay
assemble: assemble: see similar
assent: assent: see sense
assert: assert: [17] Assert comes ultimately from Latin asserere, which meant literally ‘join oneself to something’. It was a compound verb formed from the prefix ad- ‘to’ and serere ‘join’ (source of English series and serial), and it came to take on various metaphorical connotations: if one ‘joined oneself to’ a particular thing, one ‘declared one’s right to’ it, and if one ‘joined oneself to’ a particular point of view, one ‘maintained’ it, or ‘claimed’ it.

The verb was used in both these senses when English acquired it, from the Latin past participial stem assert-, but the former had more or less died out by the end of the 18th century.
=> serial, series
assess: assess: [15] The literal meaning of Latin assidēre, ultimate source of assess, was ‘sit beside someone’ (it was a compound verb formed from the prefix ad- ‘near’ and sedēre ‘sit’, a relative of English sit). This developed the secondary meaning ‘sit next to a judge and assist him in his deliberations’ (which lies behind English assize), and in medieval Latin the sense passed from helping the judge to performing his functions, particularly in fixing the amount of a fine or tax to be paid.

Hence English assess, which came via Old French assesser from Latin assess-, the past participial stem of assidēre. (The Latin adjective assiduus, formed from assidēre in the sense ‘apply oneself to something’, gave English assiduous [16].)
=> assiduous, assize, session, sit, size
asset: asset: [16] Originally, to have assets was simply to have ‘enough’ – as in French assez. The Anglo-Norman legal phrase aver asetz signified ‘have enough money to meet one’s debts’, and eventually asetz, later assets, passed from the general meaning ‘enough’ to the particular ‘financial resources’ (the final -s caused it to be regarded as a plural noun, but the analogical singular asset does not appear until the 19th century).

Anglo-Norman asetz itself goes back via Old French asez to Vulgar Latin *assatis, formed from the Latin phrase ad satis ‘to enough’ (satis is the source of English satisfy and satiate, and is related to sad).
=> sad, satiate, satisfy
asseveration: asseveration: see severe
assiduous: assiduous: see assess
assign: assign: see sign
assist: assist: [15] Etymologically, assist means ‘stand by’. It comes, via French assister, from Latin assistere, a compound verb formed from the prefix ad- ‘near’ and sistere ‘stand’ (related to Latin stāre ‘stand’, from which English gets state, station, status, statue, etc). A remnant of this original meaning survives in the sense ‘be present without actually participating’, but the main use of the word in English has always been that which came from the metaphorical sense of the Latin verb – ‘help’.
=> state, station, statue, status
assize: assize: [13] Like assess, assize comes ultimately from Latin assidēre, which meant literally ‘sit beside someone’ (it was a compound verb formed from the prefix ad- ‘near’ and sedēre ‘sit’, related to English sit). In Old French this became asseeir (modern French has asseoir), of which the past participle was assis.

The feminine form of this, assise, came to be used as a noun ranging in meaning from the very general ‘act of sitting’ or ‘seat’ to the more specific legal senses ‘sitting in judgement’ and ‘session of a court’ (English session comes ultimately from Latin sedēre too). It was the legal usages which passed into English.
=> session, sit, size
associate: associate: [14] Latin socius meant ‘companion’ (it is related to English sequel and sue), and has spawned a host of English words, including social, sociable, society, and socialism. In Latin, a verb was formed from it, using the prefix ad- ‘to’: associāre ‘unite’. Its past participle, associātus, was borrowed into English as an adjective, associate; its use as a verb followed in the 15th century, and as a noun in the 16th century.
=> sequel, social, society, sue
assort: assort: see sort
assuage: assuage: see persuade
assume: assume: see prompt
assure: assure: see insure