英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Leonard [Leonard 词源字典]: masc. proper name, from French Léonard, Old French Leonard, from German Leonhard, from Old High German *Lewenhart, literally "strong as a lion," from lewo (from Latin Leo, see lion) + hart "hard" (see hard (adj.)).[Leonard etymology, Leonard origin, 英语词源]
leonine (adj.): "lion-like," late 14c., from Old French leonin or directly from Latin leoninus "belonging to or resembling a lion," from leo (genitive leonis) "lion." Weekley thinks that Leonine verse (1650s), rhymed in the middle as well as the end of the line, probably is from the name of some medieval poet, perhaps Leo, Canon of St. Victor, Paris, 12c.
leopard (n.): late 13c., from Old French lebard, leupart (12c., Modern French léopard), from Late Latin leopardus, literally "lion-pard," from Greek leopardos, from leon "lion" + pardos "male panther," which generally is said to be connected to Sanskrit prdakuh "panther, tiger." The animal was thought in ancient times to be a hybrid of these two species.
Leopold: masc. proper name, from French Léopold, from Old High German Leutpald, Liutbald, literally "bold among the people," from leudi "people" + bald "bold."
leotard (n.): 1881, leotards, named for Jules Léotard (1830-1870), popular French trapeze artist, who performed in such a garment.
leper (n.): "one afflicted with leprosy," late 14c., from Late Latin lepra, from Greek lepra "leprosy," from fem. of lepros (adj.) "scaly," from leops "a scale," related to lepein "to peel," from lopos "a peel," from PIE root *lep- "to peel, scale" (see leaf (n.)). Originally the word for the disease itself (mid-13c.); because of the -er ending it came to mean "person with leprosy," so leprosy was coined 16c. from adjective leprous.
Lepidoptera (n.): 1773, "insects with four scaly wings," the biological classification that includes butterflies and moths, coined 1735 in Modern Latin by Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (Karl von Linné, 1707-1778) from Greek lepido-, comb. form of lepis (genitive lepidos) "(fish) scale" (related to lepein "to peel;" see leper) + pteron "wing, feather" (see pterodactyl).
lepidopterist (n.): 1826, from Lepidoptera + -ist.
leprechaun (n.): c. 1600, from Irish lupracan, metathesis of Old Irish luchorpan literally "a very small body," from lu "little" (from PIE *legwh- "having little weight;" see light (adj.)) + corpan, diminutive of corp "body," from Latin corpus "body" (see corporeal). Commonly spelled lubrican in 17c. English. Leithbragan is Irish folk etymology, from leith "half" + brog "brogue," because the spirit was "supposed to be always employed in making or mending a single shoe."
leprosy (n.): 1530s (earlier lepruse, mid-15c.), from leprous; see leper. First used in Coverdale Bible, where it renders Hebrew cara'ath, which apparently was a comprehensive term for skin diseases. Because of pejorative associations, the use of the word in medical context has been banned by the World Health Organization and replaced by Hansen's disease (1938), named for Norwegian physician Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (1841-1912) who in 1871 discovered the bacillus that causes it.
leprous (adj.): early 13c., leprus, from Old French lepros (Modern French lépreux), from Late Latin leprosus, from Latin lepra "leprosy" (see leper).
lepton (n.): elementary particle of small mass, 1948, from Greek leptos "small, slight, slender, delicate" (from lepein "to peel," from PIE *lep-; see leper) + -on. Also the name of a small coin in ancient Greece, from neuter of leptos
lesbian (adj.): 1590s, "pertaining to the island of Lesbos," from Latin Lesbius, from Greek lesbios "of Lesbos," Greek island in northeastern Aegean Sea (the name originally may have meant "wooded"), home of Sappho, great lyric poet whose erotic and romantic verse embraced women as well as men, hence meaning "relating to homosexual relations between women" (1890; lesbianism in this sense is attested from 1870) and the noun, first recorded 1925. Her particular association in English with erotic love between women dates to at least 1825, though the words formed from it are later. Before this, the principal figurative use (common in 17c.) was lesbian rule (c. 1600) a mason's rule of lead, of a type used on Lesbos, which could be bent to fit the curves of a molding; hence, "pliant morality or judgment."
And this is the nature of the equitable, a correction of law where it is defective owing to its universality. ... For when the thing is indefinite the rule also is indefinite, like the leaden rule used in making the Lesbian moulding; the rule adapts itself to the shape of the stone and is not rigid, and so too the decree is adapted to the facts. [Aristotle, "Nicomachean Ethics"]
See also tribadism. Greek had a verb lesbiazein "to imitate the Lesbians," which implied "sexual initiative and shamelessness" among women, but not necessarily female homosexuality.
lesbianism (n.): 1870, from lesbian + -ism.
lesbo: by 1940, colloquial shortening of lesbian.
lese-majesty (n.): "offense against sovereign authority, treason," 1530s (mid-15c. as an Anglo-French word), from French lèse-majesté, from Latin laesa majestos "violated majesty," from laesus, past participle of laedere "to hurt, injure, damage, offend, insult," of unknown origin.
lesion (n.): early 15c., from Middle French lesion, from Latin laesionem (nominative laesio) "injury," from past participle stem of laedere "to strike, hurt, damage," of unknown origin. Originally with reference to any sort of hurt, whether physical or not.
less: Old English læs (adv.), læssa (adj.), comparative of læs "small;" from Proto-Germanic *lais-izo "smaller" (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian les "less;" Middle Dutch lise "soft, gentle," German leise "soft"), from PIE root *leis- (2) "small" (cognates: Lithuanian liesas "thin"). Formerly also "younger," as a translation of Latin minor, a sense now obsolete except in James the Less. Used as a comparative of little, but not related to it. The noun is Old English læsse.
lessee (n.): "one to whom a lease is given," late 15c., from Anglo-French lesee, Old French lessé, past participle of lesser (Modern French laisser) "to let, leave" (see lease).
lessen (v.): "to become less," c. 1300, from less + -en (1). Related: Lessened; lessening.