英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

oppress (v.)[oppress 词源字典]: mid-14c., from Old French opresser "oppress, afflict; torment, smother" (13c.), from Medieval Latin oppressare, frequentative of Latin opprimere "press against, press together, press down;" figuratively "crush, put down, subdue, prosecute relentlessly" (in Late Latin "to rape"), from ob "against" (see ob-) + premere "to press, push" (see press (v.1)).
It is the due [external] restraint and not the moderation of rulers that constitutes a state of liberty; as the power to oppress, though never exercised, does a state of slavery. [St. George Tucker, "View of the Constitution of the United States," 1803]
Related: Oppressed; oppressing.[oppress etymology, oppress origin, 英语词源]
oppressed (adj.): late 14c., past participle adjective from oppress.
oppression (n.): mid-14c., "cruel or unjust use of power or authority," from Old French opression (12c.), from Latin oppressionem (nominative oppressio) "a pressing down; violence, oppression," noun of action from past participle stem of opprimere (see oppress). Meaning "action of weighing on someone's mind or spirits" is from late 14c.
oppressive (adj.): 1640s, from Medieval Latin oppressivus, from oppress-, past participle stem of opprimere (see oppress). Related: Oppressively; oppressiveness.
oppressor (n.): c. 1400, from Old French opresseor, from Latin oppressor, from opprimere (see oppress (v.)).
opprobrious (adj.): "full of reproach, intended to bring disgrace," late 14c., from Old French oprobrieus (Modern French opprobrieux), or directly from Late Latin opprobriosus, from Latin opprobare "to reproach, taunt," from ob "against" (see ob-) + probrum "reproach, infamy." Etymological sense is "disgrace attached to conduct considered shameful." Related: Opprobriously; opprobriousness.
opprobrium (n.): 1680s, from Latin opprobrium "disgrace, infamy, scandal, dishonor," from opprobare (see opprobrious).
oppugn (v.): mid-15c., from Latin oppugnare "to fight against, attack, assail," from ob- "toward, against" (see ob-) + pugnare "to fight" (see pugnacious). Related: Oppugned; oppugning.
opry (n.): 1914, U.S. dialectal pronunciation of opera. Especially in Grand Ole Opry, a radio broadcast of country music from Nashville, registered as a proprietary name 1950.
opsimathy (n.): 1650s, from Greek opsimathia "learning late in life," from opse "late" (related to opiso "backward," opisthen "behind") + manthanein "to learn" (see mathematic). Related: Opsimath (n.).
opt (v.): 1877, from French opter "to choose" (16c.), from Latin optare "choose, desire" (see option). To opt out is attested from 1922. Related: Opted; opting.
optative: in reference to grammatical mood expressing wish or desire, 1520s, from Middle French optatif (15c.), from Late Latin optativus, from Latin optatus "wished, desired, longed for," past participle of optare "to choose, wish, desire" (see option).
optic (adj.): early 15c., from Middle French optique, obtique (c. 1300) and directly from Medieval Latin opticus "of sight or seeing," from Greek optikos "of or having to do with sight," from optos "seen, visible," from op-, root of opsesthai "be going to see," related to ops "eye," from PIE *okw- "to see" (see eye (n.)).
optical (adj.): 1560s, from optic + -al (1). Of abstract art, from 1964. Related: Optically.
optician (n.): 1680s, after French opticien "maker or seller of optical instruments;" see optic + -ian.
optics (n.): "science of sight and light," 1570s, from optic; also see -ics. Used for Medieval Latin optica (neuter plural), from Greek ta optika "optical matters," neuter plural of optikos "optic."
optimal (adj.): "most favorable," 1890, from Latin optimus (see optimum). Originally a word in biology. Related: Optimally.
optimism (n.): 1759 (in translations of Voltaire), from French optimisme (1737), from Modern Latin optimum, used by Gottfried Leibniz (in "Théodicée," 1710) to mean "the greatest good," from Latin optimus "the best" (see optimum). The doctrine holds that the actual world is the "best of all possible worlds," in which the creator accomplishes the most good at the cost of the least evil.
En termes de l'art, il l'appelle la raison du meilleur ou plus savamment encore, et Theologiquement autant que Géométriquement, le systême de l'Optimum, ou l'Optimisme. [Mémoires de Trévoux, Feb. 1737]
Launched out of philosophical jargon and into currency by Voltaire's satire on it in "Candide." General sense of "belief that good ultimately will prevail in the world" first attested 1841 in Emerson; meaning "tendency to take a hopeful view of things" first recorded 1819 in Shelley.
optimist (n.): 1759, from French optimiste (1752); see optimism + -ist.
optimistic (adj.): 1845, from optimist + -ic. Related: Optimistical (1809); optimistically.