英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

raisin [raisin 词源字典]: raisin: [13] Raisin comes ultimately from a Latin word that meant ‘bunch of grapes’. This was racēmus (source also of English raceme [18]). It passed via Vulgar Latin *racīmus into Old French as raisin, by which time it had come to mean just ‘grape’ rather ‘bunch of grapes’. And it was already developing further to ‘dried grape’ by the time English acquired it.
=> raceme[raisin etymology, raisin origin, 英语词源]
raj: raj: [18] English acquired the word raj, of course, from the period of British rule in India. It was borrowed from Hindi rāj ‘reign’, which goes back to Sanskrit rājā, a derivative of rājati ‘he rules’. Closely related is rajah [16], which came (probably via Portuguese) from Hindi rājā, a descendant of Sanskrit rājan ‘king’ (the Sanskrit feminine from rājnī produced ranee [17]).

The whole family of words goes back to an Indo- European base *rēg-, which also produced Latin rēx ‘king’, source of English regal and royal. Maharajah [17] means literally ‘great ruler’ (Hindi mahā ‘great’ comes from the same source as Latin magnus ‘great’, ancestor of English magnify, magnitude, etc).
=> regal, royal
rake: rake: English has three distinct words rake. The oldest, ‘toothed implement’ [OE], goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *rak- or *rek- ‘gather, heap up’, which also produced German rechen ‘rake’. It may be descended ultimately from Indo-European *rog-, *reg- ‘stretch’ (source of Latin regere ‘rule’ and English right), the notion of ‘stretching’ developing via ‘stretch out the hand’ to ‘collect, gather’. Rake ‘slant, inclination’ [17] is of uncertain origin, although it seems likely that it is related to German ragen ‘project’.

It formed the basis of the adjective rakish [19] (inspired originally by the backwardinclined masts on certain fast sailing ships), but this has since become associated with the third rake, ‘dissolute man’ [17]. This was short for the now defunct rakehell [16], which comes from the notion that one would have to search through hell with a rake to find such a bad man.
=> right; rakish
ram: ram: [OE] Ram is a general West Germanic word for ‘male sheep’, now shared only by Dutch (although German has the derivative ramme ‘rammer’). It may be related to Old Norse ramr ‘strong’, the allusion being to the ram’s strength in butting. This is reflected in the word’s metaphorical applications: it was being used in Old English for a ‘battering-ram’, and by the 14th century the verb ram had emerged.

Another relative is the verb ramble [17], which etymologically denotes ‘wander around like a randy ram, looking for ewes to copulate with’. It was borrowed from Middle Dutch rammelen, a derivative of rammen ‘copulate with’, which is connected with ram.
=> ramble
ramify: ramify: [16] Ramify has no connection with rams. It comes ultimately from Latin rāmus ‘branch’, which probably goes back to the same source as produced Latin rādīx ‘root’ (ancestor of English radical and radish) and English root. From it was derived the medieval Latin verb rāmificāre, which passed into English via Old French ramifier.
=> radical, radish
ramp: ramp: [18] A ramp is etymologically something you ‘climb’ up. The word was borrowed from French rampe, a derivative of the verb ramper ‘climb’, hence ‘slope’. This goes back to a Frankish *rampōn, and was borrowed into English in the 13th century as ramp. It now survives mainly in the form of its present participle, rampant [14], which preserves the sense ‘rearing up’. Rampage [18] may be a derivative.
rampart: rampart: [16] Rampart, which means etymologically ‘fortified place’, has a very convoluted history. Its ultimate ancestor is Latin parāre ‘prepare’ (source of English prepare). To this was added the prefix ante- ‘before’ to produce the Vulgar Latin verb *anteparāre ‘prepare for defence’. This passed via Provençal amparar into Old French as emparer ‘defend, fortify’, which had the intensive re- prefixed to it, giving remparer ‘fortify’. From this was derived the noun remper or ramper, which was altered (apparently under the influence of boulevart, source of English boulevard) to rempart or rampart – whence English rampart.
=> prepare
ramshackle: ramshackle: see ransack
rancour: rancour: [14] To account for rancour and its close relative rancid we have to postulate a Latin verb *rancēre ‘stink’, never actually recorded but inferable from its present participle rancēns ‘stinking, putrid’. From it were derived the adjective rancidus, source of English rancid [17], and in post-classical times the noun rancor, source of English rancour.
=> rancid
random: random: [14] The antecedents of random are somewhat murky. It originally meant ‘impetuosity, sudden speed, violence’, and only in the mid 17th century emerged as an adjective meaning ‘haphazard’. It was borrowed from Old French randon, which was probably a derivative of the verb randir ‘run impetuously’. This in turn was based on Frankish *rant ‘running’, which was apparently descended from prehistoric Germanic *randa.

This originally meant ‘edge’ (it is the source of English rand [OE], now obsolete as a term for ‘edge’, but reintroduced in the 20th century via Afrikaans as the name of the basic South African currency unit), but it was also widely used for ‘shield’, and it is thought that the link with ‘running impetuously’ may be the notion of soldiers running along with their shields.
=> rand
ranee: ranee: see raj
range: range: [13] Range and rank come ultimately from the same source: Old French ranc. This was borrowed directly into English as rank, but it subsequently developed to rang, from which was derived the verb rangier ‘set in a row’ (ancestor of English arrange). This in turn produced the noun range ‘rank, row’.
=> rank
rank: rank: English has two words rank. The one meaning ‘row, line’ [16], and hence ‘position of seniority’, was borrowed from Old French ranc (source also of English range), which goes back via Frankish *hring to a prehistoric Germanic *khrengaz ‘circle, ring’ (ancestor of English ring). Rank ‘absolute, downright’ [OE], as in ‘rank bad manners’, has had an eventful semantic history.

It originally meant ‘haughty’ and ‘full-grown’, and came from a prehistoric Germanic *rangkaz, which also produced Old Norse rakkr ‘erect’. ‘Full-grown’ evolved via ‘growing vigorously, luxuriant’ (which still survives) into ‘gross, disgusting’, on which the present-day intensive usage is based.
=> range, ring
rankle: rankle: [14] Etymologically, if something rankles, it festers from the effects of a ‘dragon’s’ bite. Nowadays the word is only used metaphorically, but it originally meant literally ‘be sore, fester’. It was borrowed from Old French rancler, a variant of draoncler. This was derived from draoncle ‘ulcer’, which in turn came from dranculus, the medieval Latin descendant of dracunculus, a diminutive form of Latin dracō ‘snake’ (source of English dragon). The notion underlying the word is of an ulcer caused by the bite of a snake.
=> dragon
ransack: ransack: [13] Ransack means etymologically ‘search a house’. It was borrowed from Old Norse rannsaka, a compound verb formed from rann ‘house’ (a relative of Old English ærn ‘house’, which underlies English barn) and -saka ‘search’ (a relative of English seek). A now defunct derivative was ransackle or ranshackle, from which we get modern English ramshackle [19].
=> barn, ramshackle, seek
ransom: ransom: [13] Heavily disguised, ransom is the same word ultimately as redemption. It was borrowed from Old French ransoun, which, much weathered over the centuries, was descended from Latin redemptiō, source of English redemption. The etymological notion underlying the word is thus of money paid to ‘redeem’ or rescue a hostage.
=> redemption
rapacious: rapacious: see rapture
rape: rape: English has three distinct words rape, only two of them now in general usage. The commonest, ‘violate sexually’ [14], comes via Anglo-Norman raper from Latin rapere ‘seize by force’, a generous contributor to English vocabulary which has also given us rapid, rapt, rapture, etc. Rape the plant-name [14] was borrowed from Latin rāpa or rāpum.

Like its Latin ancestor, it originally denoted ‘turnip’, but since the 16th century it has come to be used exclusively for another plant of the brassica family, grown for its oil-rich seeds. (The -rabi of kohlrabi also comes ultimately from Latin rāpa; and Italian dialect raviolo, a diminutive of rava ‘turnip’, has given English ravioli [19].) The oldest rape [11] is now only of historical interest.

It denoted any of the six administrative areas into which Sussex was once divided. It is the same word ultimately as rope, and etymologically denotes the partitioning off of land with rope.
=> rapid, rapt, rapture; kohlrabi, ravioli; rope
rapid: rapid: [17] Like rape and rapture, rapid comes ultimately from Latin rapere ‘seize by force’. From this was derived the adjective rapidus, which originally denoted ‘carrying off by force’. The notion of ‘swiftness’ soon became incorporated into the meaning, however, and although the Latin adjective retained its original connotations of violence (it suggested ‘impetuous speed’ or ‘haste’), by the time it reached English it had simply become synonymous with ‘quick’.
=> rapture
rapscallion: rapscallion: see rascal