英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Mayfair [Mayfair 词源字典]: fashionable district of London, developed 18c., built on Brook fields, where an annual May fair had been held 17c.[Mayfair etymology, Mayfair origin, 英语词源]
mayflower (n.): by 1620s; from May + flower (n.). Used locally for the cowslip, the lady's smock, and other plants that bloom in May.
mayhap: 1530s, from phrase (it) may hap.
mayhem (n.): late 15c., from Anglo-French maihem (13c.), from Old French mahaigne "injury, wrong, a hurt, harm, damage;" related to mahaignier "to injure, wound, mutilate, cripple" (see maim). Originally, in law, the crime of maiming a person "to make him less able to defend himself or annoy his adversary" [OED].
mayo (n.): shortened form of mayonnaise, first attested c. 1930.
mayonnaise (n.): sauce made from egg yolks, oil, and vinegar, 1815, from French sauce mayonnaise (1806), said by French sources to be corrupted from mahonnaise and to have been named in recognition of Mahon, seaport capital of island of Minorca, captured by France 1756 after the defeat of the British defending fleet in the Seven Years' War; the sauce having been introduced either in commemoration of the victory, which was led by Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (1696â1788), or because it was brought to France from there by him. But unless there is a gap in the record, the late date of appearance of the word make this seem doubtful.
mayor (n.): c. 1300, from Old French maire "head of a city or town government" (13c.), originally "greater, superior" (adj.), from Latin maior, major, comparative of magnus "great" (see magnum).
mayoral (adj.): 1690s, from mayor + -al (1).
mayoralty (n.): late 14c., mairaltee "office of a mayor" (mid-15c. as "tenure of a mayor"), from Middle French mairalté, from maire (see mayor) + -alte, as in principalte, reformed in English as -alty.
mayorship (n.): late 15c., from mayor + -ship.
maypole (n.): "high striped pole decorated with flowers and ribbons for May Day merrymakers to dance around," attested from 1550s but certainly much older, as the first mention of it is in an ordinance banning them, and there are references to such erections, though not by this name, from a mid-14c. Welsh poem. See May Day.
maze (n.): c. 1300, "delusion, bewilderment" (also as a verb, "stupefy, daze"), possibly from Old English *mæs, which is suggested by the compound amasod "amazed" and verb amasian "to confound, confuse" (see amaze). Perhaps related to Norwegian dialectal mas "exhausting labor," Swedish masa "to be slow or sluggish." Meaning "labyrinth" first recorded late 14c.
mazel tov: 1862, from modern Hebrew mazzal tob "good luck," from Hebrew mazzaloth (plural) "constellations."
mazuma (n.): slang for "money," 1894, from Yiddish, from Mishnaic Hebrew mezumman "designated, fixed, appointed," used in Medieval Hebrew in sense of "cash" (compare slang the needful "money"), from Akkad. simanu "appointed time." It figured in "People v. Stokes," case argued before Supreme Court of California (1894), which cites newspaper coverage of an earlier trial mentioning "Colonel Mazuma":
It appears that the term "Colonel Mazuma" not only does not indicate some gentleman with a military title, but it does not even refer to a person at all. We fail to find the term mentioned by our lexicographers, but understand it to be a modern provincialism, probably emanating from the daily press, and used when referring to the corrupt application of money in the accomplishment of certain ends. If these jurors understood this term with the signification thus attached to it, it of itself furnished ample material to demand a retrial of the case. ["Pacific Reporter," vol. 37]
mazurka (n.): lively dance, also mazourka, 1818, from Russian mazurka, from Polish mazurek "dance of the Mazur," a reference to inhabitants of Mazowsze (Medieval Latin Mazovia), ancient region in central Poland. The Polish accusative in tańczyć mazurka "to dance the mazurek" was interpreted in Russian as a feminine affix, hence the -ka ending.
mazy (adj.): 1570s, from maze (n.) + -y (2).
McCarthyism: 1950, with -ism + name of U.S. Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (1908-1957), leader of U.S. anti-Communist agitation. The term is said to have been coined by "Washington Post" political cartoonist Herbert Block ("Herblock"). The surname is from Irish Mac Carthaigh "son of Carthach" (Welsh Caradawc), an ancient Celtic name, also known in its Latinized form, Caractacus (last of the British leaders to resist Rome, captured 51 C.E.)
McConnell: Irish surname, from Irish mac "son of" + Conall, from Celt. kunovalos "high-powerful."
McCoy: as in the real McCoy, 1881, said to be from Scottish the real Mackay (1883), of uncertain origin, though there are many candidates, including whiskey distilled by A. and M. Mackay of Glasgow (the phrase the real McCoy became popular during Prohibition to describe liquor); Charles S. "Kid" McCoy (1872-1940), former welterweight boxing champ; and a claimant for chief of the northern branch of the clan Mackay.
"By jingo! yes; so it will be. It's the 'real McCoy,' as Jim Hicks says. Nobody but a devil can find us there." [James S. Bond, "The Rise and Fall of the Union Club," Yorkville, Canada, 1881]
McFarland: Irish surname, from Gaelic Mac Pharlain "son of Parlan," from Old Irish Parthalon "Bartholomew."