英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

matriarchal (adj.)[matriarchal 词源字典]: 1780 (in reference to bee colonies); see matriarch + -al (1); "patterned after patriarchy" [Barnhart]. Related: Matriarchally.[matriarchal etymology, matriarchal origin, 英语词源]
matriarchy (n.): formed in English 1881 from matriarch + -y (4).
matricide (n.): 1590s, "action of killing one's mother," from French matricide, from Latin matricida "mother-killer," and matricidium "mother-killing," from comb. form of mater "mother" (see mother (n.1)) + -cida "killer," and -cidium "a killing," from caedere "to slay" (see -cide). Meaning "one who kills his mother" is 1630s. Related: Matricidal (adj.). Old English had moðorslaga "matricide, mother-slayer."
matriculate (v.): 1570s, "to admit a student to a college by enrolling his name on the register," from Late Latin matriculatus, past participle of matriculare "to register," from Latin matricula "public register," diminutive of matrix (genitive matricis) "list, roll," also "sources, womb" (see matrix).

The connection of senses in the Latin word seems to be via confusion of Greek metra "womb" (from meter "mother;" see mother (n.1)) and an identical but different Greek word metra meaning "register, lot" (see meter (n.2)). Evidently Latin matrix was used to translate both, though it originally shared meaning with only one. Related: Matriculated; matriculating.
matriculation (n.): 1580s, noun of action from matriculate (v.).
matrifocal (adj.): 1952, a term from sociology, from matri- + focal.
matrilineal (adj.): "pertaining to or descended from the mother's side," 1897, from matri- + lineal. Related: Matrilineage; matrilineally.
matrilocal (adj.): 1897, from matri- + local.
matrimonial (adj.): mid-15c., from Middle French matrimonial (14c.) and directly from Late Latin matrimonialis, from Latin matrimonium (see matrimony). Earlier as a noun meaning "a marriage" (late 15c.). Related: Matrimonially.
matrimony (n.): c. 1300, from Old French matremoine "matrimony, marriage" and directly from Latin matrimonium "wedlock, marriage," from matrem (nominative mater) "mother" (see mother (n.1)) + -monium, suffix signifying "action, state, condition."
matrix (n.): late 14c., "uterus, womb," from Old French matrice "womb, uterus," from Latin matrix (genitive matricis) "pregnant animal," in Late Latin "womb," also "source, origin," from mater (genitive matris) "mother" (see mother (n.1)). Sense of "place or medium where something is developed" is first recorded 1550s; sense of "embedding or enclosing mass" first recorded 1640s. Logical sense of "array of possible combinations of truth-values" is attested from 1914. As a verb from 1951.
matroclinous (adj.): "resembling the mother rather than the father," 1911, from matri- + Greek klinein "to lean" (see lean (v.)).
matron (n.): late 14c., "married woman" (usually one of rank), from Old French matrone "married woman; elderly lady; patroness; midwife," and directly from Latin matrona "married woman, wife, matron," from mater (genitive matris) "mother" (see mother (n.1)). Sense of "female manager of a school, hospital, etc." first recorded 1550s.
matronly: 1580s (adv.), 1650s (adj.), from matron + -ly (2). An earlier adjective was matron-like (1570s).
matronymic (n.): 1794, a hybrid from Latin mater (see mother (n.1)) + Greek-based ending from patronymic. As an adjective from 1874.
matte (n.): "backing for a picture," 1845, from French; see mat (n.2).
matte (n.): variant of mat (n.2).
matted (adj.): "tangled and lying flat" (of hair, etc.), 1610s, past participle adjective from mat (v.).
matter (n.): c. 1200, materie, "subject of thought, speech, or expression," from Anglo-French matere, Old French matere "subject, theme, topic; substance, content, material; character, education" (12c., Modern French matière), from Latin materia "substance from which something is made," also "hard inner wood of a tree" (source also of Portuguese madeira "wood"), from mater "origin, source, mother" (see mother (n.1)). Or, on another theory, it represents *dmateria, from PIE root *dem-/*dom- (source of Latin domus "house," English timber). With sense development in Latin influenced by Greek hyle, of which it was the equivalent in philosophy.

Meaning "physical substance generally, matter, material" is early 14c.; that of "substance of which some specific object is made or consists of" is attested from late 14c. That of "piece of business, affair, activity, situation, circumstance" is from late 14c. From mid-14c. as "subject of a literary work, content of what is written, main theme." Also in Middle English as "cause, reasons, ground; essential character; field of investigation."

Matter of course "something expected" attested from 1739. For that matter attested from 1670s. What is the matter "what concerns (someone), the cause of the difficulty" is attested from mid-15c. To make no matter "be no difference to" also is mid-15c.
matter (v.): "to be of importance or consequence," 1580s, from matter (n.). Related: Mattered; mattering.