英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

metamorphose (v.)[metamorphose 词源字典]: 1570s, from Middle French métamorphoser (16c.), from métamorphose (n.), from Latin metamorphosis (see metamorphosis). Related: Metamorphosed. The Greek verb was metamorphoun.[metamorphose etymology, metamorphose origin, 英语词源]
metamorphosis (n.): 1530s, "change of form or shape," especially by witchcraft, from Latin metamorphosis, from Greek metamorphosis "a transforming, a transformation," from metamorphoun "to transform, to be transfigured," from meta- "change" (see meta-) + morphe "form" (see Morpheus). Biological sense is from 1660s. As the title of Ovid's work, late 14c., Metamorphoseos, from Latin Metamorphoses (plural).
metanalysis (n.): 1914, from meta- + analysis. Coined by Danish philologist Otto Jespersen (1860-1943).
metanoia (n.): 1768, "penitence, spiritual conversion," from Greek metanoia "afterthought, repentance," from metanoein "to change one's mind or purpose," from meta- (see meta) + noein "to have mental perception," from noos "mind, thought."
metaphor (n.): late 15c., from Middle French metaphore (Old French metafore, 13c.), and directly from Latin metaphora, from Greek metaphora "a transfer," especially of the sense of one word to a different word, literally "a carrying over," from metapherein "transfer, carry over; change, alter; to use a word in a strange sense," from meta- "over, across" (see meta-) + pherein "to carry, bear" (see infer).
metaphoric (adj.): 1590s, from metaphor + -ic. Greek metaphorikos meant "apt at metaphors."
metaphorical (adj.): 1550s, from metaphor + -ical. Related: metaphorically.
metaphrastic (adj.): 1778, from Greek metaphrastikos "paraphrastic," from metaphrasis "paraphrase," from metaphrazein "to paraphrase, translate," from meta- (see meta-) + phrazein "to show, tell" (see phrase (n.)). Related: metaphrastically (1570s).
metaphysic (n.): late 14c., from Medieval Latin metaphysica (see metaphysics). The usual form of metaphysics until 16c.; somewhat revived 19c. under German influence.
metaphysical (adj.): early 15c., "pertaining to metaphysics," from methaphesik (late 14c.) + -al, and in part from Medieval Latin metaphysicalis, from Medieval Latin metaphysica (see metaphysics). It came to be used in the sense of "abstract, speculative" (among others by Johnson, who applied it to certain 17c. poets, notably Donne and Cowley, who used "witty conceits" and abstruse imagery). Related: Metaphysically.
metaphysician (n.): 1590s, from Middle French métaphysicien (14c.); see metaphysics + -ian.
metaphysics (n.): 1560s, plural of Middle English metaphisik, methaphesik (late 14c.), "branch of speculation which deals with the first causes of things," from Medieval Latin metaphysica, neuter plural of Medieval Greek (ta) metaphysika, from Greek ta meta ta physika "the (works) after the Physics," title of the 13 treatises which traditionally were arranged after those on physics and natural sciences in Aristotle's writings. The name was given c.70 B.C.E. by Andronicus of Rhodes, and was a reference to the customary ordering of the books, but it was misinterpreted by Latin writers as meaning "the science of what is beyond the physical." See meta- + physics. The word originally was used in English in the singular; plural form predominated after 17c., but singular made a comeback late 19c. in certain usages under German influence.
metapolitics (n.): 1784, "abstract political science;" see meta- + politics. Related: metapolitical, attested from 1670s in sense "outside the realm of politics."
metastasis (n.): 1570s, originally in rhetoric, from Late Latin metastasis "transition," from Greek metastasis "a removing, removal; migration; a changing; change, revolution," from methistanai "to remove, change," from meta- "over, across" (see meta-) + histanai "to place, cause to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). A rhetorical term in Late Latin for "a sudden transition in subjects," medical use for "shift of disease from one part of the body to another" dates from 1660s in English. Related: Metastatic.
metastasise (v.): chiefly British English spelling of metastasize. Related: Metastasised; metastasising.
metastasize: 1826, from metastasis + -ize. Related: Metastasized; metastasizing.
metatarsal (adj.): 1739, from metatarsus (1670s), from Modern Latin metatarsus, from meta- (see meta-) + tarsus (see tarsus). As a noun from 1854.
metathesis (n.): 1570s, "transposition of letters in a word;" c. 1600, "rhetorical transposition of words," from Late Latin metathesis, from Greek metathesis "change of position, transposition, change of opinion," from stem of metatithenai "to transpose," from meta- "to change" (see meta-) + tithenai "to place, set" (see theme). Plural is metatheses. Related: Metathetic.
metathesize (v.): 1893, from metathesis + -ize. Related: Metathesized; metathesizing.
mete (v.): "to allot," Old English metan "to measure, mete out; compare, estimate" (class V strong verb; past tense mæt, past participle meten), from Proto-Germanic *metan (cognates: Old Saxon metan, Old Frisian, Old Norse meta, Dutch meten, Old High German mezzan, German messen, Gothic mitan "to measure"), from PIE *med- "to take appropriate measures" (see medical). Used now only with out. Related: Meted; meting.