quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- feline (adj.)[feline 词源字典]
- "cat-like," 1680s, from Late Latin felinus "of or belonging to a cat," from Latin feles (genitive felis) "cat, wild cat, marten," which is of uncertain origin. Hence Modern Latin Felis, the cat genus. As a noun, "a feline animal" (popularly "a domestic cat") from 1861.[feline etymology, feline origin, 英语词源]
- felinity (n.)
- "quality of being cat-like," 1848; see feline + -ity.
- Felix
- masc. proper name, from Latin felix "happy" (see felicity).
- fell (v.1)
- Old English fællan (Mercian), fyllan (West Saxon) "make fall, cause to fall," also "strike down, demolish, kill," from Proto-Germanic *falljan "strike down, cause to fall" (cognates: Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fellian, Dutch fellen, Old High German fellen, German fällen, Old Norse fella, Danish fælde), causative of *fallan (source of Old English feallan; see fall (v.)), showing i-mutation. Related: Felled; feller; felling.
- fell (adj.)
- "cruel," late 13c., possibly late Old English, perhaps from Old French fel "cruel, fierce, vicious," from Medieval Latin fello "villain" (see felon). Phrase at one fell swoop is from "Macbeth." Related: Fellness.
- fell (n.1)
- "rocky hill," c. 1300, from Old Norse fiall "mountain," from Proto-Germanic *felzam- "rock" (cognates: Old High German felisa, German Fels "stone, rock"), from PIE root *pel(i)s- "rock, cliff." Old High German felisa "a rock" is the source of French falaise (formerly falize) "cliff." Now mostly in place-names, such as Scafell Pike, highest mountain in England.
- fell (v.2)
- past tense of fall (v.), Old English feoll.
- fell (n.2)
- "skin or hide of an animal," Old English fel "skin, hide, garment of skin," from Proto-Germanic *felnam- (cognates: Old Frisian fel, Old Saxon fel, Dutch vel, Old High German fel, German fell, Old Norse fiall, Gothic fill "skin, hide"), from PIE *pel-no-, suffixed form of root *pel- (4) "skin, hide" (see film (n.)). Related: Fellmonger.
- fella (n.)
- attempt at phonetic spelling of a casual pronunciation of fellow (n.), attested by 1864 (as fellah). Feller, along the same lines, is recorded by 1825. Earlier, Pope rhymes fellow with prunella ("Essay on Man," epistle IV).
- fellah (n.)
- "Egyptian peasant," 1743, from Arabic fallah "plowman," from falaha "to plow, till (the soil)."
- fellahin (n.)
- 1743, plural of Arabic fallah (see fellah).
- fellate (v.)
- 1968, verbal derivative of fellatio. Related: Fellated; fellating.
- fellatio (n.)
- 1894 (Havelock Ellis), from Latin fellatio, noun of action from fellatus, past participle of fellare "to suck," from PIE root *dhe(i)- (see fecund). The sexual partner performing fellatio is a fellator; if female, a fellatrice or fellatrix. L.C. Smithers' 1884 translation from German of Forberg's "Manual of Classical Erotology" has fellator, fellatrix, and fellation, but not fellatio.
- fellation (n.)
- 1887, noun of action formed classically from the past participle stem of Latin fellare "to suck" (see fellatio + -ion).
- feller (n.)
- "one who fells (trees, etc.)," c. 1400, agent noun from fell (v.1). For the casual pronunciation of "fellow," see fella.
- felloe (n.)
- "rim of a spoked wheel," early 15c., variant of felie (c. 1200), from Old English felga, plural of felg "rim of a wheel," from Proto-Germanic *felz- (cognates: Old Saxon felga, Middle Dutch velge, Dutch velg, Old High German felga, German Felge).
- fellow (n.)
- "companion, comrade," c. 1200, from Old English feolaga "partner, one who shares with another," from Old Norse felagi, from fe "money" (see fee) + lag, from a verbal base denoting "lay" (see lay (v.)). The root sense is of fellow is "one who puts down money with another in a joint venture."
Meaning "one of the same kind" is from early 13c.; that of "one of a pair" is from c. 1300. Used familiarly since mid-15c. for "any man, male person," but not etymologically masculine (it is used of women, for example, in Judges xi:37 in the King James version: "And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows"). Its use can be contemptuous or dignified in English and American English, and at different times in its history, depending on who used it to whom, it has carried a tinge of condescension or insult. University senses (mid-15c., corresponding to Latin socius) evolved from notion of "one of the corporation who constitute a college" and who are paid from its revenues. Fellow well-met "boon companion" is from 1580s, hence hail-fellow-well-met as a figurative phrase for "on intimate terms."
In compounds, with a sense of "co-, joint-," from 16c., and by 19c. also denoting "association with another." Hence fellow-traveler, 1610s in a literal sense but in 20c. with a specific extended sense of "one who sympathizes with the Communist movement but is not a party member" (1936, translating Russian poputchik).
Fellow-countrymen formerly was one of the phrases the British held up to mock the Americans for their ignorance, as it is redundant to say both, until they discovered it dates from the 1580s and was used by Byron and others. - fellow-feeling (n.)
- 1610s, an attempt to translate the sense of Latin compassio and Greek sympatheia. See fellow (n.) + feeling (n.). It yielded a back-formed verb, fellow-feel in 17c., mercifully short-lived.
- fellowship (n.)
- c. 1200, feolahschipe "companionship," from fellow + -ship. Sense of "a body of companions" is from late 13c. Meaning "spirit of comradeship, friendliness" is from late 14c. As a state of privilege in English colleges, from 1530s. In Middle English it was at times a euphemism for "sexual intercourse" (carnal fellowship).
To fellowship with is to hold communion with; to unite with in doctrine and discipline. This barbarism now appears with disgusting frequency in the reports of ecclesiastical conventions, and in the religious newspapers generally. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]
But Chaucer and Wyclif used it as a verb in Middle English, "to have fellowship with." - felo-de-se (n.)
- in old law use, "one who commits the felony of suicide," whether deliberately or in maliciously attempting to kill another, Latin, literally "one guilty concerning himself." See felon.