英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

feuilleton (n.)[feuilleton 词源字典]: part of a French newspaper devoted to light literature and criticism (usually at the bottom of a page and separated by a rule), 1845, from French feuilleton (18c.), literally "a leaflet (added to a newspaper)," diminutive of feuille "leaf," from Latin folium (see folio).
Esp. applied in F. to the short story or serial with which newspapers filled up after the fall of Napoleon left them short of war news. This was the beginning of Dumas' and Eugène Sue's long novels. [Weekley]
In reference to writing style, suggestive of showiness and superficiality.[feuilleton etymology, feuilleton origin, 英语词源]
fever (n.): earlier also feaver, late Old English fefor, fefer "fever, temperature of the body higher than normal," from Latin febris "fever," related to fovere "to warm, heat," probably from PIE root *dhegh- "burn" (cognates: Gothic dags, Old English dæg "day," originally "the heat;" Greek tephra "ashes"); but some suggest a reduplication of a root represented by Sanskrit *bhur- "to be restless."

The Latin word was adopted into most Germanic languages (German Fieber, Swedish feber, Danish feber), but not in Dutch. English spelling influenced by Old French fievre. Alternative to Old English hrið, hriðing (cognate with Old High German hritto, Irish crith, Welsh cryd, Lithuanian skriečiù). Extended sense of "intense nervous excitement" is from 1580s. Also as a verb in Old English, feferian.
feverfew (n.): Old English feferfuge, from Late Latin febrifugia, from Latin febris "fever" + fugare "put to flight" (see febrifuge). So called for its medical usage. The modern English word probably is reborrowed from an Anglo-French source.
feverish (adj.): late 14c., "causing fever;" 1630s, "excited, unduly ardent;" 1640s, "having symptoms of fever, having a slight fever," from fever + -ish. Earlier in same sense was feverous (late 14c.). Old English had feferig, feferseoc. Related: Feverishly; feverishness.
feverous (adj.): late 14c., "having a fever; characteristic of fever," from fever + -ous or from Old French fievrous. Meaning "apt to cause fever" is from 1620s. Related: Feverously.
few (adj.): Old English feawe (plural; contracted to fea) "not many, a small number; seldom, even a little," from Proto-Germanic *faw- (cognates: Old Saxon fa, Old Frisian fe, Old High German fao, Old Norse far, Danish faa).

This is from PIE root *pau- (1) "few, little" (cognates: Latin paucus "few, little," paullus "little," parvus "little, small," pauper "poor;" Greek pauros "few, little," pais (genitive paidos) "child;" Latin puer "child, boy," pullus "young animal;" Oscan puklu "child;" Sanskrit potah "a young animal," putrah "son;" Old English fola "young horse;" Old Norse fylja "young female horse;" Old Church Slavonic puta "bird;" Lithuanian putytis "young animal, young bird").

Always plural in Old English, according to OED "on the analogy of the adverbial fela," meaning "many." Phrase few and far between attested from 1660s. Unusual ironic use in quite a few "many" (1854), earlier a good few (1803).
There is likewise another dialectical use of the word few among them [i.e. "the Northern Counties"], seemingly tending to its total overthrow; for they are bold enough to say--"a good few," meaning a good many. [Samuel Pegge, "Anecdotes of the English Language," London, 1803]
few (n.): "a small number of persons" (distinguished from the many), c. 1300, fewe, from few (adj.).
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. [Winston Churchill, 1940]
fewness (n.): Old English; see few (adj.) + -ness.
fey (adj.): "of excitement that presages death," from Old English fæge "doomed to die, fated, destines," also "timid, feeble;" and/or from Old Norse feigr, both from Proto-Germanic *faigjo- (cognates: Old Saxon fegi, Old Frisian fai, Middle Dutch vege, Middle High German veige "doomed," also "timid," German feige "cowardly"), from PIE *peig- (2) "evil-minded, hostile" (see foe). Preserved in Scottish. Sense of "displaying unearthly qualities" and "disordered in the mind (like one about to die)" led to modern ironic sense of "affected."
feyness (n.): 1869, from fey + -ness.
fez (n.): 1802, from French fez, from Turkish fes, probably ultimately from Fez, the city in Morocco, where this type of tasseled cap was principally made. Made part of the Turkish official dress by sultan Mahmud II.
fiance (n.): "man to whom one is betrothed," 1864 (by 1826 as a French word in English), from French fiancé, past participle of fiancer "to betroth" (see fiancee). Borrowed earlier in Middle English as "confidence, trust; word of honor."
fiancee (n.): "woman to whom one is betrothed," 1844 (1837 as a French word in English), from French fiancée, fem. of fiancé, past participle of fiancer "to betroth," from fiance "a promise, trust," from fier "to trust," from Vulgar Latin *fidare "to trust," from Latin fidus "faithful" from the same root as fides "faith" (see faith). It has all but expelled native betrothed. The English verb fiance, now obsolete, was used c. 1450-1600 for "to engage to be married."
fianchetto (n.): chess move, 1847, Italian, diminutive of fianco "flank (attack)," from Old French flanc "hip, side" (see flank (n.)).
fiasco (n.): 1855, theater slang for "a failure in performance;" by 1862 it had acquired the general sense of "any ignominious failure or dismal flop," on or off the stage. It comes via the French phrase fiare fiasco "turn out a failure" (19c.), from Italian far fiasco "suffer a complete breakdown in performance," literally "make a bottle," from fiasco "bottle," from Late Latin flasco "bottle" (see flask).

The literal sense of the image (if it is one) is obscure today, but "the usual range of fanciful theories has been advanced" [Ayto]. Century Dictionary says "perhaps in allusion to the bursting of a bottle," Weekley pronounces it impenetrable and compares French ramasser un pelle "to come a cropper (in bicycling), literally to pick up a shovel." OED keeps its distance and lets nameless "Italian etymologists" make nebulous reference to "alleged incidents in Italian theatrical history." Klein suggests Venetian glass-crafters tossing aside imperfect pieces to be made later into common flasks. But according to an Italian dictionary, fare il fiasco used to mean "to play a game so that the one that loses will pay the fiasco," in other words, he will buy the next bottle (of wine). If the dates are not objectionable, that plausibly connects the literal sense of the word with the notion of "a costly mistake."
fiat (n.): 1630s, "authoritative sanction," from Latin fiat "let it be done" (used in the opening of Medieval Latin proclamations and commands), third person singular present subjunctive of fieri be done, become, come into existence," used as passive of facere "to make, do" (see factitious). Meaning "a decree, command, order" is from 1750. In English the word also sometimes is a reference to fiat lux "let there be light" in Gen. i:3.
Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. [Vulgate]
fib (n.): "a lie," especially a little one, "a white lie," 1610s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from fibble-fable "nonsense" (1580s), a reduplication of fable (n.).
fib (v.): "tell trifling lies," 1680s, from fib (n.). Seldom, if ever, transitive. Related: Fibbed; fibbing; fibbery.
fibber (n.): 1723, agent noun from fib (v.).
fiber (n.): late 14c., fibre "a lobe of the liver," also "entrails," from Medieval Latin fibre, from Latin fibra "a fiber, filament; entrails," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Latin filum "a thread, string" (see file (n.1)) or from root of findere "to split" (see fissure).

Meaning "thread-like structure in animal bodies" is from c. 1600 (in plants, 1660s); hence figurative use in reference to force or toughness (1630s). As "textile material," 1827. Fiberboard is from 1897; Fiberglas is attested from 1937, U.S. registered trademark name; in generic use, with lower-case f- and double -s, by 1941. Fiber optics is from 1956.