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consequence [consequence 词源字典]: consequence: see sequence
[consequence etymology, consequence origin, 英语词源]
conserve: conserve: [14] Latin servāre meant ‘keep, preserve’ (it was not related to servus ‘slave’, source of English serve and servant). Among the compounds formed from it were praeservāre ‘guard in advance’ and, using the intensive prefix com-, conservāre. This passed into English via Old French conserver. Amongst its derivatives are conservation [14], conservative [14] (first used in the modern political sense by J Wilson Croker in 1830), and conservatory [16] (whose French original, conservatoire, was reborrowed in the 18th century in the sense ‘musical academy’).
=> observe, preserve, reserve
consider: consider: [14] Etymologically, consider means ‘observe the stars’. Amongst the most popular of ancient Roman methods of divination was astrology, and so the Latin verb consīderāre was coined (from the intensive prefix com- and sīdus ‘star’, source of English sidereal) to describe the activity of carefully noting the stars’ courses for the purpose of drawing auguries.

From ‘observing stars’ it soon broadened out in meaning to simply ‘observe’, and hence figuratively ‘think over something’, but the sense ‘have an opinion’ seems to be an English development of the 16th century. English acquired the word via Old French considerer, but borrowed considerable directly from Latin consīderābilis; the modern sense ‘large in amount’ arose in the mid-17th century, on the basis of an earlier ‘worthy of consideration because of great quantity’.
=> desire, sidereal
consign: consign: see sign
consist: consist: [16] Latin consistere meant originally ‘stand still, be firmly in place’. It was a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and sistere ‘place’ (a relative of Latin stāre, which entered into a parallel compound to form constāre ‘stand firm’, source of English constant [14]). The concrete concept of ‘standing firm’ passed into the more abstract ‘exist’, and hence ‘have a particular kind of existence, have particular inherent qualities’. By the time English borrowed the verb it had come to mean ‘be composed of’.
=> constant, constitute
console: console: [14] Console means literally ‘offer solace’. It comes from Latin consōlārī, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and sōlārī ‘comfort’ (source of the Latin noun sōlātium, from which English gets solace [13]). English acquired it either directly, or via French consoler. The Latin agent noun derived from consōlārī was consōlātor ‘comforter’, which passed into French as consolateur. This came to be used as an architectural term for a carved human figure supporting a cornice, shelf, etc, and was eventually shortened to console; this was borrowed into English in the 18th century.
=> solace
consonant: consonant: [14] Etymologically, consonant means ‘sounding together’. It comes via Old French consonant from Latin consonāns, the present participle of consonāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and sonāre ‘sound’. Its application to particular speech sounds, contrasted with ‘vowels’, comes from the notion that they were ‘pronounced together with’ vowels, rather than independently.
=> sonorous, sound
consort: consort: see sort
conspire: conspire: see spirit
constable: constable: [13] The late Latin comes stabulī was an officer in charge of the stables (comes is the source of the English title count, and stabulum is the ancestor of English stable). From the comparatively lowly status of head groom, the job gradually grew in importance until Old French conestable was used for the principal officer of the household of the early French kings. In the 14th century the title was adopted for the Constable of England. On a less exalted level, the word has also been used since the 14th century for someone appointed to uphold law and order, and was applied to police officers when they were called into being in the 1830s.
=> count, stable
constant: constant: see consist
consternation: consternation: see strata
constipation: constipation: [15] Latin constīpātiō originally meant ‘condition of being closely packed or compressed’. Its English descendant constipation was briefly used in that literal sense in the 17th and 18th centuries, but for the most part it has been a medical term: at first for constriction of some internal organ, blood vessel, etc, and from the mid-16th century for impaired bowel function. The Latin past participle constīpātus passed into Old French as costive, which English acquired, via an unrecorded Anglo-Norman *costif ‘constipated’ [14].
=> costive, stevedore, stiff
constitute: constitute: [15] Etymologically, that which is constituted is that which is ‘caused to stand’ or ‘set up’. The word comes from the past participle of Latin constituere ‘fix, establish’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and statuere ‘set up’ (source of English statute). This was a derivative of Latin status (whence English state and status), which itself began life as the past participle of stāre ‘stand’ (a relative of English stand). The derivative constituent [17] comes (partly via French) from the Latin present participle constituēns.
=> stand, statue, status, statute
constrain: constrain: see strain
construct: construct: [17] Construct comes from the present participle of Latin construere ‘pile up together, build’, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- and struere ‘pile up’ (source of English destroy and structure). English acquired the same verb somewhat earlier, in the 14th century, in the form construe.
=> construe, destroy, structure
consult: consult: [17] The -sult element of consult represents a prehistoric Indo-European *sal-, which may be related to Sanskrit sar- ‘go’. It was used with the prefix com- ‘together’ to form the Latin verb consulere ‘discuss, consult’. An altered form developed, consultāre denoting repeated action, and this was the source, via French consulter of the English verb. Related to Latin consulere were the nouns consul, borrowed into English in the 14th century, and consilium, ultimate source of English counsel [13].
=> consul, counsel
consummate: consummate: see sum
contact: contact: [17] The underlying notion of contact is not surprisingly one of ‘touching’. It comes ultimately from Latin tangere ‘touch’, source of English tactile, tangent, and tangible. Using the prefix com- ‘together’ this was formed into a compound verb contangere ‘touch, border on’, whose past participle contāctus was borrowed into English, originally as a noun (its use as a verb is a surprisingly late development, which did not happen until the late 19th century). Also derived from Latin contangere is contagion [14], and contaminate is probably related.
=> contagion, contaminate, tactile, tangent, tangible
contain: contain: [13] Contain comes ultimately from Latin tenēre ‘hold’, source of a wide range of English words from abstain to tenor. In the case of contain the immediate ancestor, via Old French contenir, is Latin continēre ‘hold together, enclose, contain’, a compound formed with the prefix com- ‘together’. Contain still adheres fairly closely to the meaning of its Latin original, but other descendants, such as content, continent, continue, and countenance, have branched out a lot semantically.
=> abstain, content, continent, continue, countenance, retain, sustain, tenor