quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- gramary (n.)



[gramary 词源字典] - early 14c., gramarye, "grammar," also "learning, erudition," hence "magic, enchantment" (late 15c.), a variant of grammar; perhaps from Old French gramare, gramaire "grammar," also "book of conjuring or magic" (hence Modern French grimaire "gibberish, incomprehensible nonsense"). Gramarye was revived by Scott ("Lay of the Last Minstrel," 1805) in the "dark magic" sense.[gramary etymology, gramary origin, 英语词源]
- gramercy (interj.)




- c. 1300, exclamation of thanks, later of surprise, from Old French grant-merci, gran merci "great thanks, many thanks," from gran (see grand (adj.)) + merci "reward, favor, thanks" (see mercy (n.)). Modern French merci "thank you" is a shortening of this.
New York City's Gramercy Park is named for the Gramercy Farm which once stood there; the first part of the name is an 18c. folk-etymology from Crommeshie Fly, the name of a former marsh or shallow pond that stood nearby, itself a mangling of New Netherlands Dutch Crommessie Vly, the first part of which represents either *Krom Moerasje "little crooked swamp" or *Krom Messje "little crooked knife," said to have been the name of a brook flowing into (or out of) the pond. - gramineous (adj.)




- 1650s, from Latin gramineus "of grass, grassy," from gramen (genitive graminis) "grass, fodder," from PIE *gras-men-, suffixed form of root *gras- "to devour" (see gastric). The Latin adjective also is the source of the botanical order of Gramineae.
- graminivorous (adj.)




- "feeding on grass," 1739, from gramini-, comb. form of Latin gramen (genitive graminis) "grass, fodder" (see gramineous) + -vorous.
- grammar (n.)




- late 14c., "Latin grammar, rules of Latin," from Old French gramaire "grammar; learning," especially Latin and philology, also "(magic) incantation, spells, mumbo-jumbo" (12c., Modern French grammaire), an "irregular semi-popular adoption" [OED] of Latin grammatica "grammar, philology," perhaps via an unrecorded Medieval Latin form *grammaria. The classical Latin word is from Greek grammatike (tekhne) "(art) of letters," referring both to philology and to literature in the broadest sense, fem. of grammatikos (adj.) "pertaining to or versed in letters or learning," from gramma "letter" (see -gram). An Old English gloss of it was stæfcræft (see staff (n.)).
A much broader word in Latin and Greek; restriction of the meaning to "systematic acount of the rules and usages of language" is a post-classical development. Until 16c. limited to Latin; in reference to English usage by late 16c., thence "rules of a language to which speakers and writers must conform" (1580s). Meaning "a treatise on grammar" is from 1520s. For the "magic" sense, compare gramary. The sense evolution is characteristic of the Dark Ages: "learning in general, knowledge peculiar to the learned classes," which included astrology and magic; hence the secondary meaning of "occult knowledge" (late 15c. in English), which evolved in Scottish into glamour (q.v.).
A grammar-school (late 14c.) originally was a school for learning Latin, which was begun by memorizing the grammar. In U.S. (1842) the term was put to use in the graded system for a school between primary and secondary where English grammar is one of the subjects taught. The word is attested earlier in surnames (late 12c.) such as Robertus Gramaticus, Richard le Gramarie, whence the modern surname Grammer. - grammarian (n.)




- late 14c., "writer on (Latin) grammar; philologist, etymologist;" in general use, "learned man," from Old French gramairien "wise man, person who knows Latin; magician" (Modern French grammairien), agent noun from grammaire (see grammar).
- grammatical (adj.)




- 1520s, "of or pertaining to grammar," from Middle French grammatical and directly from Late Latin grammaticalis "of a scholar," from grammaticus "pertaining to grammar" (see grammar). Related: Grammatically (c. 1400).
- grammatist (n.)




- 1580s, "grammarian," from French grammatiste (16c.), from Medieval Latin grammatista, from Greek grammatistes "one who teaches letters," from gramma "a drawing; a letter, character" (see -gram).
- grammatolatry (n.)




- "concern for the letter (of Scripture) without regard for the spirit," 1847 (German Grammatolatrie is attested by 1842), from Latinized form of Greek grammatik-, comb. form of gramma "letter" (see -gram) + -latry "worship of." Probably formed with allusion to idolatry.
- Grammy (n.)




- statuette awarded by the American National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1959, from the gram- in gramophone, on the model of Emmy.
- gramophile (n.)




- fan of gramophone records, 1922, from gramophone + -phile.
- gramophone (n.)




- "machine for recording and reproducing sounds by needle-tracing on some solid material," 1887, trademark by German-born U.S. inventor Emil Berliner (1851-1929), an inversion of phonogram (1884) "the tracing made by a phonograph needle," which was coined from Greek phone "voice, sound," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)) + gramma "something written" (see -gram).
Berliner's machine used a flat disc and succeeded with the public. Edison's phonograph used a cylinder and did not. Despised by linguistic purists (Weekley calls gramophone "An atrocity formed by reversing phonogram") who tried at least to amend it to grammophone, it was replaced by record player after mid-1950s. There also was a graphophone (1886). - gramp




- 1898, colloquial or dialectal shortening of grandpa.
- grampus (n.)




- a word applied to killer whales and other large, dolphin-like creatures, 1590s, earlier graundepose (1520s), altered (by influence of grand) from Middle English graspeys (late 13c.), from Anglo-French grampais, from Old French graspois, craspois "whale, (salted) whale meat; blubber; seal," from Medieval Latin craspicis, literally "great fish" or "fat fish," from Latin crassus "thick" + piscis "fish" (see fish (n.)). For specifics of usage in English, see OED.
- gran (1)




- childish abbreviation of grandmother or granny, 1863.
- gran (2)




- Italian, the form of grand before nouns.
- Granada




- Moorish kingdom, after 1492 a Spanish province, named for its city, which was founded in 8c. by the Arabs on the site of Roman Illiberis. The name is said to be from Latin granatum "pomegranate," either from fruit grown in the region or from some fancied resemblance. Others connect the name to Moorish karnattah, said to mean "hill of strangers." The Roman name is said to be Iberian and represent cognates of Basque hiri "town" + berri "new," and it survives in the name of the surrounding Sierra Elvira. Related: Granadine.
- granary (n.)




- 1560s, from Latin granaria (plural) "granary, store-house for grain," from granum "grain," from PIE root *gre-no- "grain" (see corn (n.1)).
- grand (adj.)




- late 14c., grant "large, big" (early 12c. in surnames), from Anglo-French graunt and directly from Old French grant, grand (10c., Modern French grand) "large, tall; grown-up; great, powerful, important; strict, severe; extensive; numerous," from Latin grandis "big, great; full, abundant," also "full-grown;" figuratively "strong, powerful, weighty, severe," of unknown origin. In Vulgar Latin it supplanted magnus and continued in the Romanic languages. The connotations of "noble, sublime, lofty, dignified," etc., were in Latin. In English it developed a special sense of "imposing." Meaning "principal, chief, most important" (especially in titles) is from 1560s; that of "of very high or noble quality" is from 1712. As a general term of admiration, "magnificent, splendid," from 1816. Related: Grander; grandest.
Grand jury is late 15c. Grand piano from 1797. The grand tour of the principal sites of continental Europe, as part of a gentleman's education, is attested by that name from 1660s. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in western U.S. was so called by 1869, popularized by Maj. John Wesley Powell, scientific adventurer, who explored it; earlier it had been known as Big Canyon. For grand slam see slam (n.2). - grand (n.)




- "thousand dollars," 1915, American English underworld slang, from grand (adj.).