英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

literary (adj.)[literary 词源字典]: 1640s, "pertaining to alphabet letters," from French littéraire, from Latin literarius/litterarius "belonging to letters or learning," from littera/litera "letter" (see letter (n.1)). Meaning "pertaining to literature" is attested from 1737.[literary etymology, literary origin, 英语词源]
literate (adj.): "educated, instructed," early 15c., from Latin literatus/litteratus "educated, learned," literally "one who knows the letters," formed in imitation of Greek grammatikos from Latin littera/litera "letter" (see letter (n.1)).
literati (n.): "men and women of letters; the learned class as a whole," 1620s, from Latin literati/litterati, plural of literatus/litteratus "lettered" (see literate). The proper singular would be literatus, though Italian literato (1704) sometimes is used.
literation (n.): "representation of sounds by alphabetic letters," 1843, from Latin litera (see letter (n.1)) + -ation.
literature (n.): late 14c., from Latin literatura/litteratura "learning, a writing, grammar," originally "writing formed with letters," from litera/littera "letter" (see letter (n.1)). Originally "book learning" (it replaced Old English boccræft), the meaning "literary production or work" is first attested 1779 in Johnson's "Lives of the English Poets" (he didn't include this definition in his dictionary, however); that of "body of writings from a period or people" is first recorded 1812.
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. [Ezra Pound, "ABC of Reading"]
Meaning "the whole of the writing on a particular subject" is from 1860; sense of "printed matter generally" is from 1895. The Latin word also is the source of Spanish literatura, Italian letteratura, German Literatur.
lith (n.): "joint, limb," Old English liþ "limb, member, joint," cognate with Old Frisian lith, Dutch lid, Old High German lid, Old Norse liðr, Gothic liþus, German glied "limb, member."
lithe (adj.): Old English liðe "soft, mild, gentle, meek," from Proto-Germanic *linthja- (cognates: Old Saxon lithi "soft, mild, gentle," Old High German lindi, German lind, Old Norse linr, with characteristic loss of "n" before "th" in English), from PIE root *lent- "flexible" (cognates: Latin lentus "flexible, pliant, slow," Sanskrit lithi). In Middle English, used of the weather. Current sense of "easily flexible" is from c. 1300. Related: Litheness.
lithesome (adj.): 1768, from lithe + -some (1). Related: Lithesomely; lithesomeness.
lithic (adj.): 1797, from Greek lithikos "of or pertaining to stone," from lithos "stone" (see litho-).
lithium (n.): silver-white metallic element, 1818, with element ending -ium + lithia, Modern Latin name given by Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848) to the earth from which it was extracted, from Greek lithos "stone" (see litho-). So called from its mineral origin and to distinguish it from two previously known alkalis of vegetable origin.
litho-: before vowels, lith-, word-forming element meaning "stone, rock;" from comb. form of Greek lithos "stone, a precious stone, marble; a piece on a game board," of unknown origin.
lithograph (n.): 1828, back-formation from lithography. As a verb, from 1825. Related: Lithographed; lithographer; lithographic.
lithography (n.): 1813, from German Lithographie (c. 1804), coined from Greek lithos "stone" (see litho-) + graphein "to write" (see -graphy). The original printing surfaces were of stone. Process invented 1796 by Alois Senefelder of Munich (1771-1833). Hence, lithograph "a lithographic print," a back-formation first attested 1828. Earlier senses, now obsolete, were "description of stones or rocks" (1708) and "art of engraving on precious stones" (1730).
lithology (n.): study of rock-formation, 1716, from Modern Latin lithologia, from litho- + -logia (see -logy).
lithosphere (n.): "solid part of the earth's surface," 1881; see litho- "stone" + sphere.
lithotomy (n.): 1721, from Late Latin lithotomia, from Greek lithotomia, from lithos "stone" (see litho-) + -tomia "cutting" (see -tomy).
lithotripsy (n.): 1834, from litho- + -tripsy, from Greek tripsis "rubbing," from tribein "to rub, thresh, pound, wear out," from PIE root *tere- (1) "to rub, turn, twist" (see throw (v.)). Klein says the intended Greek word is thryptein "to crush" and there has been "confusion" with tribein.
Lithuania: Baltic nation, from Lithuanian Lietuva, of unknown origin, perhaps from a PIE source related to Latin litus "shore" and thus meaning "shoreland." Related: Lithuanian.
litigant: 1630s (adj.); 1650s (n.), from French litigant, from Latin litigantem (nominative litigans), present participle of litigare (see litigation).
litigate (v.): 1610s, from Middle French litigier and directly from Latin litigatus, past participle of litigare "to dispute, carry on a suit" (see litigation). Related: Litigated; litigating.