英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Hebrides [Hebrides 词源字典]: originally Ebudae, Haebudes, of uncertain origin. Apparently a scribal error turned -u- into -ri-. The Norse name, Suðregar, "Southern Islands," is relative to the Orkneys. Related: Hebridean.[Hebrides etymology, Hebrides origin, 英语词源]
Hecate: early 15c., Greek deity, daughter of Perseus and Asteria (said to be originally Thracian), later identified as an aspect of Artemis, fem. of hekatos "far-shooting." Associated since Shakespeare ("I Henry VI," III.ii.64) with witches and sorcery.
hecatomb (n.): 1590s, from Greek hekatombe "offering of 100 oxen," but generally "a great public sacrifice," from hekaton "one hundred" (perhaps from hen, neuter of eis "one" + *katon "hundred") + bous "ox." The first month of the Attic calendar (corresponding to July-August) was Hekatombaion, in which sacrifices were made.
heck (interj.): euphemistic alteration of hell, first recorded 1865.
heckle (v.): early 14c., "to comb (flax or hemp) with a heckle;" from heckle (n.) or from related Middle Dutch hekelen. Figurative meaning "to question severely in a bid to uncover weakness" is from late 18c. "Long applied in Scotland to the public questioning of parliamentary candidates" [OED]. Related: Heckled; heckling.
heckle (n.): "flax comb," c. 1300, hechel, perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *hecel or a cognate Germanic word (such as Middle High German hechel, Middle Dutch hekel), from Proto-Germanic *hakila-, from PIE *keg- "hook, tooth" (see hook (n.)).
heckler (n.): agent noun from heckle (v.); mid-15c., from late 13c., as a surname (Will. le Hekelere). Modern sense of "one from the audience who taunts a public speaker" is from 1885. Fem. form hekelstere is attested from c. 1500.
hectare (n.): 1810, from French hectare "a hundred ares," formed from Greek hekaton "hundred" (see hecatomb) + Latin area "vacant piece of ground" (see area). A superficial measure containing 100 ares, coined by decree of the French National Convention in 1795.
hectic (adj.): late 14c., etik (in fever etik), from Old French etique "consumptive," from Late Latin hecticus, from Greek hektikos "continuous, habitual, consumptive" (of a disease, because of the constant fever), from hexis "a habit (of mind or body)," from ekhein "have, hold, continue" (see scheme).

The Latin -h- was restored in English 16c. Sense of "feverishly exciting, full of disorganized activity" first recorded 1904, but hectic also was used in Middle English as a noun meaning "feverish desire, consuming passion" (early 15c.). Hectic fevers are characterized by rapid pulse, among other symptoms. Related: Hecticness.
hector (n.): late 14c., "a valiant warrior," 1650s as slang for "a blustering, turbulent, pervicacious, noisy fellow" [Johnson], Heck for short, both in reference to the provocative character of Hektor, Trojan hero, oldest son of Priam and Hecuba, in the "Iliad." It represents Greek hektor, literally "holder, stayer;" an agent noun from ekhein "to have, hold, possess" (see scheme). The word was used mid-1600s in reference to London street gangs. As a proper name it is rare in England but used in Scotland to render Gaelic Eachdonn.
hector (v.): 1650s, from Hector (n.), in reference to his encouragement of his fellow Trojans to keep up the fight. Related: Hectored; hectoring.
Hecuba: principal wife of Priam in the "Iliad," from Greek Hekabe, perhaps a variant of Hecate.
hedge (n.): Old English hecg, originally any fence, living or artificial, from West Germanic *khagja (cognates: Middle Dutch hegge, Dutch heg, Old High German hegga, German Hecke "hedge"), from PIE *kagh- "to catch, seize; wickerwork, fence" (cognates: Latin caulae "a sheepfold, enclosure," Gaulish caio "circumvallation," Welsh cae "fence, hedge"). Related to Old English haga "enclosure, hedge" (see haw). Figurative sense of "boundary, barrier" is from mid-14c. Prefixed to any word, it "notes something mean, vile, of the lowest class" [Johnson], from contemptuous attributive sense of "plying one's trade under a hedge" (hedge-priest, hedge-lawyer, hedge-wench, etc.), a usage attested from 1530s.
hedge (v.): late 14c., "make a hedge," also "surround with a barricade or palisade;" from hedge (n.). The sense of "dodge, evade" is first recorded 1590s. That of "insure oneself against loss," as in a bet, by playing something on the other side is from 1670s, originally with in; probably from an earlier use of hedge in meaning "secure (a debt) by including it in a larger one which has better security" (1610s). Related: Hedged; hedging. The noun in the wagering sense is from 1736.
hedgehog (n.): mid-15c. (replacing Old English igl), from hedge (n.) + hog (n.); the second element a reference to its pig-like snout.
hedgerow (n.): Old English hegeræw; see hedge (n.) + row (n.).
hedonism (n.): 1856, from Greek hedone (see hedonist) + -ism.
hedonist (n.): 1822, in reference to the Cyrenaic school of philosophy that deals with the ethics of pleasure, from Greek hedonikos "pleasurable," from hedone "pleasure," related to hedys "sweet," cognate with Latin suavis (see sweet). A hedonist is properly the follower of any ethical system in which some sort of pleasure ranks as the highest good. The Epicurian identifies this pleasure with the practice of virtue.
hedonistic (adj.): 1866, from hedonist + -ic. The earlier adjectival form was hedonic (1650s), "of or having to do with the Cyrenaic school of philosophy;" by 1901 in psychology.
Hedwig: fem. proper name, German, from Old High German Haduwig, a compound of two words both of which mean "strife, struggle."