英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

resurrection [resurrection 词源字典]: resurrection: see surge
[resurrection etymology, resurrection origin, 英语词源]
retail: retail: [14] Retail etymologically denotes the sale of ‘cut-off’ bits, hence sale in small quantities. It comes from Old French retaille ‘piece cut off’, a derivative of retaillier ‘cut up’. This was a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix re- and taillier ‘cut’ (source of English tailor). It use in English for ‘sell in small quantities’ was probably inspired by the Italian retagliare, which has the same meaning. The figurative sense ‘relate, tell’ appeared at the end of the 16th century.
=> tailor
retaliate: retaliate: [17] To retaliate is etymologically to give someone ‘so much’ or an equal amount in return for what they have given you. Its ultimate source is Latin tālis ‘suchlike’ (source of French tel ‘such’). This formed the basis of a noun tāliō ‘punishment equal in severity to the wrong that occasioned it’, which was combined with the prefix re- ‘back’ to create the verb retaliāre ‘repay in kind’ – whence English retaliate.
reticent: reticent: [19] The ultimate source of reticent is Latin tacēre ‘be silent’ (source of English tacit and taciturn). Combination with the intensive prefix re- produced reticēre ‘keep silent’, whose present participle gave English reticent. It was preceded into the language by over two hundred years by the derived noun reticence.
=> tacit, taciturn
reticule: reticule: [18] Reticule is a now superannuated term for a small handbag. It alludes to the fact that such bags were originally made from netted fabric. The Latin word for ‘net’ was rēte, whose diminutive form rēticulum was used for ‘netted bag’ – whence, via French réticule, English reticule. From rēticulum was derived rēticulātus ‘having a network pattern’, which has given English reticulated [18] (used by Dr Johnson in his famous definition of network: ‘any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections’, 1755). Rēte was also the source of medieval Latin retina ‘inner lining of the eyeball’, borrowed by English as retina [14].
=> retina
retinue: retinue: [14] A retinue is etymologically ‘that which is retained’. The word was borrowed from Old French retenue, the feminine past participle of retenir ‘keep, restrain’ (source of English retain [14]). This in turn went back via Vulgar Latin *retenēre to Latin retinēre ‘hold back’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and tenēre ‘hold’ (source of English contain, obtain, etc). The notion behind retinue is of a body of men ‘retained’ in one’s service. Another English descendant of retinēre is rein.
=> contain, detain, obtain, rein, retain
retort: retort: see torment
retreat: retreat: [14] Retreat and retract [15] are ultimately the same word. Both go back to Latin retrahere ‘draw back’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and trahere ‘draw, pull’ (source of English tractor). This passed into Old French as retraire, and its past participle retrait came to be used as a noun meaning ‘withdrawal’ – whence English retreat. Meanwhile the past participle of retrahere, retractus, had been used as the basis of a new Latin verb, retractāre, which passed into English via Old French retracter as retract.
=> contract, distract, retract, tractor
retrench: retrench: [16] Retrench originally meant literally ‘dig a new trench as a second line of defence’. It was borrowed from early modern French retrencher, a descendant of Old French retrenchier. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and trenchier ‘cut off’ (source of English trench, trenchant, etc). The standard present-day sense of retrench, ‘cut back, economize’, first recorded in the 17th century, is a return to the underlying meaning of French retrencher.
=> trench, trenchant
retribution: retribution: see tribe
retrieve: retrieve: [15] To retrieve something is etymologically to ‘re-find’ it. The word comes from retreuv-, the stem of Old French retrover. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and trover ‘find’ (ancestor of modern French trouver and source of English troubadour and trove, as in treasure trove). Its original application in English was to dogs refinding game that had been temporarily lost (hence the term retriever [15]).
=> troubadour, trove
retrograde: retrograde: see gradual
return: return: [14] The origins of return are in Vulgar Latin. There, Latin tornāre (source of English turn), which originally meant ‘turn on a lathe’, was combined with the prefix re- ‘back’ to produce *retornāre ‘turn back’, which passed via Old French retorner into English as return.
=> turn
reveal: reveal: [14] To reveal something is etymologically to ‘unveil’ it. The word comes via Old French reveler from Latin revēlāre ‘unveil, disclose’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ (in the sense ‘reverting to a former condition’) and vēlum ‘veil’ (source of English veil).
=> veil
reveille: reveille: see vigil
revenge: revenge: see vindicate
reverberate: reverberate: [16] Latin verbera meant ‘whips, rods’ (it was related to Greek rhábdos ‘stick’). From it was derived the verb verberāre ‘whip, beat’, which with the addition of the prefix re- ‘back’ produced reverberāre ‘beat back’. When this first arrived in English it was used literally (Thomas Coryat, for instance, in his Crudities 1611, wrote of ‘a strong wall to repulse and reverberate the furious waves of the sea’), but it was not long before the metaphorical application to the re-echoing of sounds took over.
revere: revere: [17] Revere goes back ultimately to Latin verērī ‘hold in awe or fear’, a possible distant relative of English aware and beware. Addition of the intensive prefix re- produced reverērī, which English probably acquired via French révérer. The derivative reverend [15], which comes from the Latin gerundive reverendus ‘to be revered’, has been used from earliest times as a title of respect for clergymen. That was for long a common application of reverent [14] too, which came from the Latin present participial stem reverent-.
reverse: reverse: see verse
revile: revile: see vile