quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- sagittal (adj.)[sagittal 词源字典]
- "shaped like or resembling an arrow," 1540s, from Modern Latin sagittalis, from Latin sagitta "arrow" (see Sagittarius).[sagittal etymology, sagittal origin, 英语词源]
- Sagittarius (n.)
- zodiac constellation, late Old English, from Latin, literally "archer," properly "pertaining to arrows," from sagitta "arrow," which probably is from a pre-Latin Mediterranean language. Meaning "person born under Sagittarius" (properly Sagittarian) is attested from 1940. It represents a centaur drawing a bow, but to modern observers unfamiliar with either it looks vaguely like a teapot.
- sago (n.)
- "starch made of the piths of palms," 1570s, via Portuguese and Dutch from Malay sagu, the name of the palm tree from which it is obtained (attested in English in this sense from 1550s). Also borrowed in French (sagou), Spanish (sagu), German (Sago).
- saguaro (n.)
- type of large branching columnar cactus of the North American desert, 1856, from Mexican Spanish, from a native name of unknown origin, perhaps from Yaqui (Sonoran).
- Sahara
- 1610s, from Arabic çahra "desert" (plural çahara), according to Klein, noun use of fem. of the adjective asharu "yellowish red." Related: Saharan.
- Sahel
- from Arabic sahil "sea coast, shore." Originally in reference to the coastal region. Related: Sahelian.
- sahib (n.)
- respectful address to Europeans in India, 1670s, from Hindi or Urdu sahib "master, lord," from Arabic sahib, originally "friend, companion," from sahiba "he accompanied." Female form ("European lady") is memsahib.
- said (adj.)
- "named or mentioned before," c. 1300, past participle adjective from say (v.).
- Saigon
- southern Vietnamese city, capital of former South Vietnam, named for its river, which bears a name of uncertain origin.
- sail (n.)
- Old English segl "sail, veil, curtain," from Proto-Germanic *seglom (cognates: Old Saxon, Swedish segel, Old Norse segl, Old Frisian seil, Dutch zeil, Old High German segal, German Segel), of obscure origin with no known cognates outside Germanic (Irish seol, Welsh hwyl "sail" are Germanic loan-words). In some sources (Klein, OED) referred to PIE root *sek- "to cut," as if meaning "a cut piece of cloth." To take the wind out of (someone's) sails (1888) is to deprive (someone) of the means of progress, especially by sudden and unexpected action, "as by one vessel sailing between the wind and another vessel," ["The Encyclopaedic Dictionary," 1888].
- sail (v.)
- Old English segilan "travel on water in a ship; equip with a sail," from the same Germanic source as sail (n.); cognate with Old Norse sigla, Middle Dutch seghelen, Dutch zeilen, Middle Low German segelen, German segeln. Meaning "to set out on a sea voyage, leave port" is from c. 1200. Related: Sailed; sailing.
- sailboat (n.)
- also sail-boat, 1769, from sail (n.) + boat (n.).
- sailing (n.)
- Old English seglinge, verbal noun from the source of sail (v.).
- sailor (n.)
- c. 1400, sailer, agent noun from sail (v.). Spelling with -o- arose 16c., probably by influence of tailor, etc., and to distinguish the meaning "seaman, mariner" from "thing that sails." It replaced much older seaman and mariner (q.q.v.). Old English also had merefara "sailor." Applied as an adjective from 1870s to clothing styles and items based on a sailor's characteristic attire.
- sain (v.)
- "to cross oneself; to mark with the sign of the cross," Old English segnian, from Latin signare "to sign" (in Church Latin "to make the sign of the Cross"); see sign (n.). A common Germanic borrowing, cognate with Old Saxon segnon, Dutch zegenen, Old High German seganon, German segnen "to bless," Old Norse signa.
- saint (n.)
- early 12c., from Old French saint, seinte "a saint; a holy relic," displacing or altering Old English sanct, both from Latin sanctus "holy, consecrated" (used as a noun in Late Latin; also source of Spanish santo, santa, Italian san, etc.), properly past participle of sancire "consecrate" (see sacred). Adopted into most Germanic languages (Old Frisian sankt, Dutch sint, German Sanct).
Originally an adjective prefixed to the name of a canonized person; by c. 1300 it came to be regarded as a noun. Meaning "person of extraordinary holiness" is recorded from 1560s.
Saint, n. A dead sinner revised and edited. The Duchess of Orleans relates that the irreverent old calumniator, Marshal Villeroi, who in his youth had known St. Francis de Sales, said, on hearing him called saint: 'I am delighted to hear that Monsieur de Sales is a saint. He was fond of saying indelicate things, and used to cheat at cards. In other respects he was a perfect gentleman, though a fool.' [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
Perhaps you have imagined that this humility in the saints is a pious illusion at which God smiles. That is a most dangerous error. It is theoretically dangerous, because it makes you identify a virtue (i.e., a perfection) with an illusion (i.e., an imperfection), which must be nonsense. It is practically dangerous because it encourages a man to mistake his first insights into his own corruption for the first beginnings of a halo round his own silly head. No, depend upon it; when the saints say that they--even they--are vile, they are recording truth with scientific accuracy. [C.S. Lewis, "The Problem of Pain," 1940]
Saint Bernard, the breed of mastiff dogs (1839), so called because the monks of the hospice of the pass of St. Bernard (between Italy and Switzerland) sent them to rescue snowbound travelers; St. Elmo's Fire "corposant" (1560s) is from Italian fuoco di Sant'Elmo, named for the patron saint of Mediterranean sailors, a corruption of the name of St. Erasmus, an Italian bishop martyred in 303. - saint (v.)
- "to enroll (someone) among the saints," late 14c., from saint (n.). Related: Sainted; sainting.
- sainthood (n.)
- 1540s, from saint (n.) + -hood.
- saintly (adj.)
- 1620s, from saint (n.) + -ly (1). Related: Saintliness.
- sake (n.2)
- "Japanese rice liquor," 1680s, from Japanese sake, literally "alcohol."