英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Saxon (n.)[Saxon 词源字典]: c. 1200, from Late Latin Saxonem (nominative Saxo; also source of French Saxon, Spanish Sajon, Italian Sassone), usually found in plural Saxones, from a Germanic source (Old English Seaxe, Old High German Sahsun, German Sachse "Saxon"), with a possible literal sense of "swordsmen" (compare Old English seax, Old Frisian, Old Norse sax "knife, short sword, dagger," Old High German Saxnot, name of a war-god), from Proto-Germanic *sahsam "knife," from PIE *sek- "to cut" (see section (n.)).

The word figures in the well-known story, related by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who got it from Nennius, of the treacherous slaughter by the Anglo-Saxons of their British hosts:
Accordingly they all met at the time and place appointed, and began to treat of peace; and when a fit opportunity offered for executing his villany, Hengist cried out, "Nemet oure Saxas," and the same instant seized Vortigern, and held him by his cloak. The Saxons, upon the signal given, drew their daggers, and falling upon the princes, who little suspected any such design, assassinated them to the number of four hundred and sixty barons and consuls ....
The OED editors helpfully point out that the correct Old English (with an uninflected plural) would be nimað eowre seax. For other Germanic national names that may have derived from characteristic tribal weapons, see Frank, Lombard. As an adjective from 1560s. Still in 20c. used by Celtic speakers to mean "an Englishman" (Welsh Sais, plural Seison "an Englishman;" Seisoneg "English").

In reference to the modern German state of Saxony (German Sachsen, French Saxe) it is attested from 1630s. Saxon is the source of the -sex in Essex, Sussex, etc. (compare Middlesex, from Old English Middel-Seaxe "Middle Saxons"). Bede distinguished the Anglo-Saxons, who conquered much of southern Britain, from the Ealdesaxe "Old Saxons," who stayed in Germany.[Saxon etymology, Saxon origin, 英语词源]
saxophone (n.): 1851, from French saxophone, named for Antoine Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (1814-1894), Belgian instrument maker who devised it c. 1840, + Greek -phonos "voiced, sounding." His father, Charles Joseph (1791-1865) invented the less popular saxhorn (1845). The surname is a spelling variant of Sachs, Sacks, literally "Saxon." Related: Saxophonist.
say (v.): Old English secgan "to utter, inform, speak, tell, relate," from Proto-Germanic *sagjanan (cognates: Old Saxon seggian, Old Norse segja, Danish sige, Old Frisian sedsa, Middle Dutch segghen, Dutch zeggen, Old High German sagen, German sagen "to say"), from PIE *sokwyo-, from root *sekw- (3) "to say, utter" (cognates: Hittite shakiya- "to declare," Lithuanian sakyti "to say," Old Church Slavonic sociti "to vindicate, show," Old Irish insce "speech," Old Latin inseque "to tell say").

Past tense said developed from Old English segde. Not attested in use with inanimate objects (clocks, signs, etc.) as subjects before 1930. You said it "you're right" first recorded 1919; you can say that again as a phrase expressing agreement is recorded from 1942, American English. You don't say (so) as an expression of astonishment (often ironic) is first recorded 1779, American English.
say (n.): "what someone says," 1570s, from say (v.). Meaning "right or authority to influence a decision" is from 1610s. Extended form say-so is first recorded 1630s. Compare Old English secge "speech."
saying (n.): "utterance, recitation, action of the verb 'say,' " c. 1300, verbal noun from say (v.); meaning "something that has been said" (usually by someone thought important) is from c. 1300; sense of "a proverb" is first attested mid-15c.
Ça va sans dire, a familiar French locution, whose English equivalent might be "that is a matter of course," or "that may be taken for granted." But recently it has become the tendency to translate it literally, "that goes without saying," and these words, though originally uncouth and almost unmeaning to the unpractised ear, are gradually acquiring the exact meaning of the French. [Walsh, 1892]
sayonara: "farewell, good-bye" 1875, from Japanese, literally "if it is to be that way," from sayo "that way," + nara "if."
says: third person singular of say (v.), c. 1300, eventually replacing saith.
sayyid: also sayid, Islamic title of honor, applied to descendants of Hussein, Muhammad's grandson, 1788, from Arabic sayyid "lord, chief," perhaps literally "speaker, spokesman."
sbirro (n.): Italian policeman, 1660s, from Italian, "police officer" (plural sbirri), from Late Latin birrus "red," from Greek pyrros "red," literally "fire-colored," from pyr "fire," from PIE root *paəwr- "fire" (see fire (n.)). With unoriginal prefix (compare Spanish esbirro). Probably so called from the original color of the uniform.
scab (n.): mid-13c., "skin disease," developed from Old English sceabb "scab, itch" (related to scafan "to shave, scrape, scratch") and from Old Norse skabb "scab, itch," both from Proto-Germanic *skab- "scratch, shave," from PIE *(s)kep- "to cut, scrape, hack" (see scabies). Sense reinforced by cognate Latin scabies "scab, itch, mange" (from scabere "to scratch").

Meaning "crust which forms over a wound or sore" is first attested c. 1400. Meaning "strikebreaker" first recorded 1806, from earlier sense of "person who refuses to join a trade union" (1777), probably from meaning "despicable person" (1580s), possibly borrowed in this sense from Middle Dutch.
scabbard (n.): c. 1300, from Anglo-French *escauberc "sheath, vagina" (13c.), from Frankish or another Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *sker-berg-, literally "sword-protector," from *skar "blade" (source also of Old High German scar "scissors, blade, sword," from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut;" see shear (v.)) + *berg- "protect" (source also of Old High German bergan "to protect;" see bury).
scabies (n.): skin disease, "the itch," c. 1400, from Latin scabies "mange, itch, roughness," from scabere "to scratch, scrape," from PIE root *(s)kep-, a base forming words meaning "to cut, scrape, hack" (cognates: Gothic scaban, Old English sceafan "to scrape, shave;" Greek skaptein "to dig;" "Old Church Slavonic skobli "scraper;" Lithuanian skabus "sharp," skabeti "to cut;" Lettish skabrs "splintery, sharp"). Related: Scabious.
scabrous (adj.): 1570s, "harsh, unmusical" (implied in scabrously), from Late Latin scabrosus "rough," from Latin scaber "rough, scaly," related to scabere "to scratch, scrape" (see scabies). Sense in English evolved to "vulgar" (1881), "squalid" (1939), and "nasty, repulsive" (c. 1951). Classical literal sense of "rough, rugged" attested in English from 1650s. Related: Scabrously; scabrousness.
scad (n.): c. 1600, Cornish name for a type of fish (also known as horse mackerel) abundant on the British coast; of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of shad. OED compares Welsh ysgaden "herrings," Norwegian dialectal skad, Swedish skädde "flounder."
scads (n.): "large amounts," 1869, American English, earlier "dollar" (1855, usually in plural), of uncertain origin. Unknown connection to scad, the fish, which were "often very abundant and occasionally seen in enormous shoals":
In July, 1834, as Mr. Yarrell informs us, most extraordinary shoals passed up the channel along the coast of Glamorganshire; their passage occupied a week, and they were evidently in pursuit of the fry of the herring. The water appeared one dark mass of fish, and they were caught by cart-loads, and might even be baled out of the water by the hands alone. ["British Fish and Fisheries," 1849]
scaffold (n.): mid-14c., "wooden framework used in building, etc., temporary structure for workmen to make walls," a shortening of an Old North French variant of Old French eschafaut "scaffold" (Modern French échafaud), probably altered (by influence of eschace "a prop, support") from chaffaut, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum (see catafalque). Meaning "platform for a hanging" is from 1550s. Dutch schavot, German Schafott, Danish skafot are from French. As a verb from 1540s.
scaffolding (n.): "temporary support," mid-14c.; see scaffold.
scag (n.): see skag.
scalable (adj.): 1570s, "able to be climbed;" see scale (v.1) + -able. From 1936 as "able to be graded by scale." Related: Scalably; scalability.
scalar (adj.): "resembling a ladder," 1650s, from Latin scalaris "of or pertaining to a ladder," from scalae (plural) "ladder, steps, flight of steps" (see scale (n.2)). Mathematical sense first recorded 1846.