英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

engird (v.)[engird 词源字典]: 1560s, from en- (1) "in" + gird (v.). Related: Engirt; engirded.[engird etymology, engird origin, 英语词源]
England (n.): Old English Engla land, literally "the land of the Angles" (see English (n.1)), used alongside Angelcynn "the English race," which, with other forms, shows Anglo-Saxon persistence in thinking in terms of tribes rather than place. By late Old English times both words had come to be used with a clear sense of place, not people; a Dane, Canute, is first to call himself "King of England." By the 14c. the name was being used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain and to the land of the Celtic Britons before the Anglo-Saxon conquest. The loss of one of the duplicate syllables is a case of haplology.
English (n.1): "the people of England; the speech of England," noun use of Old English adjective Englisc (contrasted to Denisc, Frencisce, etc.), "of or pertaining to the Angles," from Engle (plural) "the Angles," the name of one of the Germanic groups that overran the island 5c., supposedly so-called because Angul, the land they inhabited on the Jutland coast, was shaped like a fish hook (see angle (n.)). Reinforced by Anglo-French engleis. Cognates: Dutch Engelsch, German Englisch, Danish Engelsk, French Anglais (Old French Engelsche), Spanish Inglés, Italian Inglese.

Englisc was used from earliest times without distinction for all the Germanic invaders -- Angles, Saxon, Jutes (Bede's gens Anglorum) -- and applied to their group of related languages by Alfred the Great. "The name English for the language is thus older than the name England for the country" [OED]. After 1066, of the native population of England (as distinguished from Normans and French occupiers), a distinction which lasted about a generation. But as late as Robert of Gloucester's "Chronicle" (c. 1300) it also was sometimes distinguished from "Saxon" ("Þe englisse in þe norþ half, þe saxons bi souþe").
"... when Scots & others are likely to be within earshot, Britain & British should be inserted as tokens, but no more, of what is really meant" [Fowler]
In pronunciation, "En-" has become "In-," perhaps through the frequency of -ing- words and the relative rarity of -e- before -ng- in the modern language, but the older spelling has remained. Meaning "English language or literature as a subject at school" is from 1889. Old English meaning the Anglo-Saxon language before the Conquest is attested from c. 1200 in an account of the native (as opposed to Latin) month names.
English (n.2): "spin imparted to a ball" (as in billiards), 1860, from French anglé "angled" (see angle (n.)), which is similar to Anglais "English."
English (adj.): Old English, "belonging to the English people;" late 13c., "belonging to England," from English (n.1). The adverb Englishly (mid-15c.) is rare.
english (v.): "to translate into English," late 14c., from English (n.1) in the language sense. Related: Englished; englishing.
Englishman: Old English Engliscman, from English (n.1) + man (n.). Related: Englishmen. Englishwoman is from c. 1400. Englander "native of England" is from 1820; in some cases from German Engländer. Englisher is from 1680s. Englishry is from late 13c. in Anglo-French as "state of being English;" from mid-15c. as "the English people or faction."
engorge (v.): 1510s, "fill to excess," from French engorger "to obstruct, block, congest," Old French engorgier "to swallow, devour," from en- (see en- (1)) + gorge "throat" (see gorge (n.)). Probably originally in reference to hawks. Related: Engorged; engorging.
engorgement (n.): 1610s, from engorge + -ment or else from French engorgement.
engraft (v.): 1580s, from en- (1) + graft (n.). Originally figurative. Related: Engrafted; engrafting.
engrain (v.): also ingrain, late 14c., originally "dye (a fabric) red with cochineal," from French phrase en graine, from graine "seed of a plant," also "cochineal" (the source of the dye was thought to be berries), thus "fast-dyed." See grain; also compare kermes. Later associated with grain in the sense of "the fiber of a thing." Used figuratively from 16c. Related: Engrained.
engrave (v.): mid-15c. (implied in ingraved "engraved"), from en- (1) + obsolete verb grave "carve" (see grave (v.)) or from or modeled on French engraver. Related: Engraved; engraven; engraving.
engraver (n.): 1580s, agent noun from engrave.
engraving (n.): c. 1600, "act of cutting designs, etc. on a hard surface," verbal noun from engrave (v.). Meaning "that which is engraved" is from 1610s; meaning "impression taken from an engraved plate" is from 1803.
engross (v.): c. 1400, "to buy up the whole stock of" (in Anglo-French from c. 1300), from Old French en gros "in bulk, in a large quantity, at wholesale," as opposed to en detail. See gross.

Figurative sense of "absorb the whole attention" is first attested 1709. A parallel engross, meaning "to write (something) in large letters," is from Anglo-French engrosser, from Old French en gros "in large (letters)." Related: Engrossed; engrossing.
engulf (v.): 1550s, from en- (1) "make, put in" + gulf (n.) or else from Old French engolfer. Originally of seas, whirlpools, etc.; by 1711 of fire and other mediums. Figurative use from 1590s. Related: Engulfed; engulfing.
enhance (v.): late 13c., anhaunsen "to raise, make higher," from Anglo-French enhauncer, probably from Old French enhaucier "make greater, make higher or louder; fatten, foster; raise in esteem," from Vulgar Latin *inaltiare, from Late Latin inaltare "raise, exalt," from altare "make high," from altus "high" (see old). Meaning "raise in station, wealth, or fame" attested in English from c. 1300. Related: Enhanced; enhancing.

The -h- in Old French supposedly is from influence of Frankish *hoh "high." The -n- perhaps is due to association with Provençal enansar, enanzar "promote, further," from enant "before, rather," from Latin in + ante "before."
enhancement (n.): 1570s, from enhance + -ment.
enharmonic (adj.): c. 1600, in reference to Greek music, from Late Latin enharmonicus, from Greek enharmonikos, from en (see en- (2)) + harmonikos (see harmonic). From 1794 in reference to a modern music note that can be indicated in different ways (G sharp/A flat).
ENIAC: acronym from "electronic numeral integrator and computer," device built 1946 at University of Pennsylvania by John W. Mauchly Jr., J. Presper Eckert Jr., and J.G. Brainerd. It cost $400,000, used 18,000 radio tubes, and was housed in a 30-foot-by-50-foot room.