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reach [reach 词源字典]: reach: [OE] Reach goes back ultimately to a prehistoric West Germanic *raikjan, a word of uncertain origin which also produced German reichen and Dutch reiken. It originally meant ‘stretch out the hand’, and ‘attain’ and ‘arrive at’ are secondary semantic developments.
[reach etymology, reach origin, 英语词源]
read: read: [OE] In most western European languages, the word for ‘read’ goes back ultimately to a source which meant literally ‘gather, pick up’: French lire, for instance, which comes from Latin legere (source of English legible and collect), and German lesen. English read, however, is an exception. Its underlying meaning is ‘advise, consider’ (it is related to German raten ‘advise’, and a memory of this original sense lives on in the archaic rede ‘advise’, which is essentially the same word as read, and also in unready ‘ill-advised’, the epithet applied to the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelred II), and the sense ‘read’ developed via ‘interpret’ (preserved in the related riddle).
=> riddle
ready: ready: [12] Ready is a derivative of Old English rǣde ‘ready’, which went back to a prehistoric Germanic *raithjō ‘arranged’, hence ‘prepared’. This also produced German bereit ‘ready’, Dutch gereed ‘ready’, and Swedish reda ‘ready’, and it lies behind the second syllable of curry ‘groom a horse’.
real: real: [15] Real and its various derivatives (such as realism [19], reality [16], and realize [17]) go back ultimately to Latin rēs ‘thing’, a word of uncertain origin related to Sanskrit rās ‘riches’. It had a post-classical derivative reālis, which English originally acquired via Anglo-Norman real and used strictly in the legal sense ‘of fixed property’ (as in real estate). The broader modern range of meanings was probably instigated by the reintroduction of the word direct from Latin in the mid-16th century.
=> realize
realm: realm: [13] Realm., régime, and regimen are ultimately the same word. All three come from Latin regimen ‘system of government’, a derivative of the verb regere ‘rule’ (from which English gets rector, regent, register, etc). This passed into Old French, where reiel ‘royal’ was grafted into it, producing realme – whence English realm.
=> rector, regal, régime, regimen, register, royal
ream: ream: English has two distinct words ream. The one denoting an amount of paper [14] comes via Old French remme from Arabic risma ‘bundle’, a derivative of the verb rasama ‘collect into a bundle’. Ream ‘make or enlarge a hole’ [19] may be the same word as Middle English reme ‘open up, make room’, which goes back to Old English ryman ‘widen’, a derivative of the same base as English room.
=> room
reap: reap: see ripe
rear: rear: There are two separate words rear in English. The older, ‘raise’ [OE], is a descendant of prehistoric Germanic *raizjan, which also produced Old Norse reisa, source of English raise. The Germanic verb denoted literally ‘cause to rise’, and was derived from *reisan, which evolved into English rise. Rear ‘hind’ [16] is descended ultimately from Latin retrō- ‘behind’, but it is not clear whether it came into the language as an abbreviation of arrear [18], which goes back via Old French arere to medieval Latin adretrō ‘to the rear’ (the Anglo- Norman noun areres existed in the 14th century, so the chronological disparity may not be crucial), or was extracted from rearguard [15], a borrowing from Old French rereguarde.
=> raise, rise; arrear, retro
reason: reason: [13] Reason, together with rational, represent in English the ‘thinking’ aspects of the Latin verb rērī (it also meant ‘calculate’, and in that guise has given English rate, ration, etc). From it was derived the noun ratiō ‘thinking, calculation’ (source of English ratio and the rest). This spawned a Vulgar Latin variant *ratiōne, which passed into Old French as reisun – whence English reason.
=> rate, ratio, ration
rebate: rebate: [15] A rebate is etymologically an amount that has been ‘re-abated’. The word, originally a verb, comes from Old French rabattre ‘beat down again’, hence ‘reduce’, a compound formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and abattre ‘beat down’ (source of English abate [13], and also of abattoir [19], euphemistically a place where animals are ‘beaten down’ or killed). This in turn went back to Vulgar Latin *abbattuere, a compound verb formed from the prefix ad- ‘completely’ and battuere ‘beat’ (source of English battle, combat, etc).
=> abate, abattoir, battle, combat
rebel: rebel: [13] Etymologically, a rebel is someone who, having been defeated, ‘makes war again’ against his conquerors. The word comes via Old French rebelle from Latin rebellis, an adjective formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and bellum ‘war’ (source of English bellicose [15] and belligerent [16]). The same Latin word underlies English revel [14]; the semantic link between these two rather unlikely relatives is the noisy disturbance or uproar that goes with a rebellion, not too dissimilar to that made by a crowd of revellers.
=> belligerent, revel
recalcitrant: recalcitrant: [19] People who are recalcitrant are etymologically ‘kicking back’ against whatever restrains or upsets them. The word was borrowed from French récalcitrant, a descendant of the present participle of Latin recalcitrāre ‘kick back’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and calcitrāre ‘kick’, which in turn was derived from Latin calx ‘heel’.
recap: recap: [20] The -cap of recap has of course no immediate connection with cap. The word is short for recapitulate [16], which etymologically denotes ‘repeat the headings’. It comes from late Latin recapitulāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘again’ and capitulum ‘section of text, heading’ (source of English chapter). Capitulum was a diminutive form of Latin caput ‘head’, which may ultimately underlie English cap – so the two words could after all be linked.
=> capitulate, chapter
receive: receive: [13] To receive something is etymologically to ‘take it back’. The word comes via Old French receivre from Latin recipere ‘regain’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and capere ‘take’ (source of English capture). Other English descendants of recipere are receipt [14] (which goes back to medieval Latin recepta, a noun use of the verb’s feminine past participle), receptacle [15], reception [14], recipe, and recipient [16].
=> captive, capture, receptacle, recipe
recent: recent: [16] English acquired recent from Latin recēns ‘new, fresh’, possibly via French récent. It is not clear where the Latin word came from, although some have linked it with Greek kainós ‘new’ (source of the English geological term cainozoic [19]) and Sanskrit kanīna- ‘young’.
recidivist: recidivist: [19] A recidivist – a ‘persistent offender’ – is etymologically someone who ‘falls back’. The word was borrowed from French récidiviste, a descendant of medieval Latin recidīvāre. This in turn was based on the noun recidīvus ‘falling back’, a derivative of Latin recidere ‘fall back’, which was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and cadere ‘fall’ (source of English cadence, case, decadent, etc).
=> cadaver, cadence, case, decadent
recipe: recipe: [14] Recipe originated as the imperative form of Latin recipere ‘receive, take’ (source of English receive). It was commonly used in Latin, and occasionally English, lists of ingredients for medicines and dishes (as in ‘Take three eggs …’), and by the end of the 16th century it was being applied to the medical formulae themselves. Its modern gastronomic sense did not emerge until the mid-18th century.
=> receive
reciprocal: reciprocal: [16] English adapted reciprocal from Latin reciprocus ‘alternating’. This was a compound adjective based ultimately on the elements re- ‘back, backwards’ and prō- ‘for, forwards’.
recite: recite: [15] Recite came, probably via Old French reciter, from Latin recitāre ‘read out’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and citāre ‘call, summon’ (source also of English cite, excite, incite, etc). Recitative ‘speech-like singing’ [17] was borrowed from Italian recitativo.
=> cite, excite, incite
reckless: reckless: [OE] The reck- of reckless is the same word as the now virtually obsolete verb reck ‘care’. It is not clear where this ultimately came from, but the compound reckless itself evidently goes back to the prehistoric West Germanic period, for it also occurs in German (ruchlos) and Dutch (roekeloos).