英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

significant (adj.)[significant 词源字典]: 1570s, "having a meaning," from Latin significantem (nominative significans, present participle of significare "make known, indicate" (see signify). Earlier in the same sense was significative (c. 1400). Often "having a special or secret meaning," hence "important" (1761). Related: Significantly. Significant figure is from 1680s. Significant other (n.) attested by 1961, in psychology, "the most influential other person in the patient's world."[significant etymology, significant origin, 英语词源]
signification (n.): early 14c., "symbolization, representation," from Old French significacion and directly from Latin significationem (nominative significatio) "a signifying, indication, expression, sign, token, meaning, emphasis," noun of action from past participle stem of significare "make known, indicate" (see signify). From late 14c. as "meaning" (of a word, etc.).
signifier (n.): 1530s, agent noun from signify. In U.S. black use by 1962.
signify (v.): late 13c., "be a sign of, indicate, mean," from Old French signifier (12c.), from Latin significare "to make signs, show by signs, point out, express; mean, signify; foreshadow, portend," from significus (adj.), from signum "sign" (see sign (n.)) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Intransitive sense of "to be of importance" is attested from 1660s. Meaning "engage in mock-hostile banter" is American English black slang first recorded 1932.
...'signifying,' which in Harlemese means making a series of oblique remarks apparently addressed to no one in particular, but unmistakable in intention in such a close-knit circle. ["Down Beat," March 7, 1968]
signor (n.): an Italian lord or gentleman, 1570s, from Italian signore, from Latin seniorem, accusative of senior (see senior (adj.)). Feminine form signora is from 1630s; diminutive signorina is first recorded 1820.
signpost (n.): also sign-post, 1610s, "sign on a post, usually indicating an inn or shop," from sign (n.) + post (n.1). Meaning "guide- or direction-post along a road" is attested from 1863. Figurative sense is from 1889.
sike (n.): also syke, "small stream," a Scottish and Northern word, from Old English sic or cognate Old Norse sik "a ditch, trench."
Sikh (n.): 1781, member of a politico-religious community established c. 1500 in Punjab by Nanak Shah, from Hindi sikh "disciple," from Sanskrit siksati "studies, learns," related to saknoti "he is able, he is strong" (see Shakti).
Sikhism (n.): "tenets of the Sikhs," 1849, from Sikh + -ism.
silage (n.): "fodder packed in a silo," 1884, alteration (probably by influence of silo) of ensilage.
Silas: masc. proper name, from Late Latin, from Greek Silas, contraction of Silouanos, transliteration of Latin Silvanus, a name that literally means "living in the woods," from silva "wood" (see sylvan).
silence (n.): c. 1200, "muteness, state of being silent," from Old French silence "state of being silent; absence of sound," from Latin silentium "a being silent," from silens, present participle of silere "be quiet or still," of unknown origin. Meaning "absence of sound" in English is from late 14c.
silence (v.): 1560s, intransitive, "become still or silent;" 1590s, transitive, "make silent," from silence (n.). Related: Silenced; silencing.
silencer (n.): c. 1600, "person who silences," agent noun from silence (v.). Meaning "mechanism that stifles the sound of a motor or firearm" is from 1898.
silent (adj.): c. 1500, "without speech, silent, not speaking," from Latin silentem (nominative silens) "still, calm, quiet," present participle of silere "be quiet or still" (see silence (n.)). Meaning "free from noise or sound" is from 1580s.

Of letters, c. 1600; of films, 1914. In the looser sense "of few words," from 1840. Phrase strong, silent (type) is attested from 1905. Silent majority in the political sense of "mass of people whose moderate views are not publicly expressed and thus overlooked" is first attested 1955 in a British context and was used by John F. Kennedy but is most associated in U.S. with the rhetoric of the Nixon administration (1969-74).
It is time for America's silent majority to stand up for its rights, and let us remember the American majority includes every minority. America's silent majority is bewildered by irrational protest. [Spiro T. Agnew, May 9, 1969]
In Victorian use, the phrase meant "the dead" (1874; compare Roman use of the noun plural of "silent" to mean "the dead"). Silence is golden (1831) is Carlyle's translation ["Sartor Resartus"] of part of the "Swiss Inscription" Sprechen ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden. In one 14c. text Latin "one who is silent" is translated by a beere stille.
silently (adv.): 1560s, from silent (adj.) + -ly (2).
Silenus: 1710, from Greek Seilenos, foster-father of Bacchus and leader of the satyrs; the name is of unknown origin (Klein compares Thracian zilai "wine").
Silesia: former eastern German province, now southwestern Poland, from Latinized form of German Schliesen (Polish Śląsk), from the name of a river and a mountain there, from Silingi or Silingae, name of a Vandalic (Germanic) people who supposedly had a religious center at the mountain. Related: Silesian. In reference to cloth imported from there from 1670s, especially "a thin cotton cloth, commonly twilled, used for linings for women's dresses and men's garments."
silhouette (n.): 1798, from French silhouette, in reference to Étienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), French minister of finance in 1759. Usually said to be so called because it was an inexpensive way of making a likeness of someone, a derisive reference to Silhouette's petty economies to finance the Seven Years' War, which were unpopular among the nobility. But other theories are that it refers to his brief tenure in office, or the story that he decorated his chateau with such portraits.
Silhouette portraits were so called simply because they came into fashion in the year (1759) in which M. de Silhouette was minister. [A. Brachet, "An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language," transl. G.W. Kitchin, 1882]
Used of any sort of dark outline or shadow in profile from 1843. The verb is recorded from 1876, from the noun. The family name is a Frenchified form of a Basque surname; Arnaud de Silhouette, the finance minister's father, was from Biarritz in the French Basque country; the southern Basque form of the name would be Zuloeta or Zulueta, which contains the suffix -eta "abundance of" and zulo "hole" (possibly here meaning "cave").
silica (n.): "hard silicon dioxide," 1801, Modern Latin, from Latin silex (genitive silicis) "flint, pebble," on model of alumina, soda.