英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

thrush (n.1)[thrush 词源字典]: type of songbird, Old English þræsce, variant of þrysce, from Proto-Germanic *thruskjon (cognates: Old Norse þröstr, Norwegian trost, Old High German drosca), from PIE *trozdo- (cognates: Latin turdus, Lithuainian strazdas "thrush," Middle Irish truid, Welsh drudwy "starling," Old Church Slavonic drozgu, Russian drozdu).[thrush etymology, thrush origin, 英语词源]
thrush (n.2): throat disease, 1660s, probably from a Scandinavian source (such as Norwegian, Danish trøske, Swedish torsk), but its roots and original meaning are unclear.
thrust (v.): late 12c., from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse þrysta "to thrust, force, press," from Proto-Germanic *thrustijanan, perhaps from PIE *treud- "push, press" (see threat), but OED finds this derivation doubtful. Related: Thrusting.
thrust (n.): 1510s, "act of pressing," from thrust (v.). Meaning "act of thrusting" (in the modern sense) is from 1580s. Meaning "propulsive force" is from 1708. Figurative sense of "principal theme, aim, point, purpose" is recorded from 1968.
thruster (n.): type of rocket engine, 1962, agent noun; see thrust (n.).
thud (v.): Old English þyddan "to strike, stab, thrust, press," of imitative origin. Sense of "hit with a dull sound" first recorded 1796. Related: Thudded; thudding. The noun is attested from 1510s as "blast of wind;" 1530s as "loud sound."
thug (n.): 1810, "member of a gang of murderers and robbers in India who strangled their victims," from Marathi thag, thak "cheat, swindler," Hindi thag, perhaps from Sanskrit sthaga-s "cunning, fraudulent," from sthagayati "(he) covers, conceals," perhaps from PIE root *(s)teg- (2) "to cover" (see stegosaurus).
The thugs roamed about the country in bands of from 10 to 100, usually in the disguise of peddlers or pilgrims, gaining the confidence of other travelers, whom they strangled, when a favorable opportunity presented itself, with a handkerchief, an unwound turban, or a noosed cord. The shedding of blood was seldom resorted to. The motive of the thugs was not so much lust of plunder as a certain religious fanaticism. The bodies of their victims were hidden in graves dug with a consecrated pickax, and of their spoil one third was devoted to the goddess Kali, whom they worshiped. [Century Dictionary]
The more correct Indian name is phanseegur (from phansi "noose"), and the activity was described in English as far back as c. 1665. Rigorously prosecuted by the British from 1831, they were driven from existence by century's end. Transferred sense of "ruffian, cutthroat, violent lowbrow" is from 1839.
thuggery (n.): 1839, from thug + -ery. Also thugee, from the native Hindi name for the system of religious assassination practiced by the thugs.
thuggish (adj.): "ruffianly, brutal and forceful," 1870, from thug + -ish. Related: Thuggishly; thuggishness.
Thule: region or island at northernmost part of the world, Old English, from Latin, from Greek Thyle "land six days' sail north of Britain" (Strabo, quoting a lost portion of a work by Polybius, itself based on a lost account of a voyage to the north by 4c. B.C.E. geographer Pytheas). The identity of the place and the source of the name have sparked much speculation; Polybius doubted the whole thing, and since Roman times the name has been used in a transferred sense of "extreme limits of travel" (Ultima Thule).
The barbarians showed us where the sun set. For it happened in those places that the night was extremely short, lasting only two or three hours; and the sun sunk under the horizon, after a short interval reappeared at his rising." [Pytheas]
The name was given to a trading post in Greenland in 1910, site of a U.S. air base in World War II.
thulium (n.): 1879, Modern Latin, from thulia (thulite), name of an earth found in Scandinavia, from which the element was identified in 1879 by Swedish geologist Per Tedor Cleve (1840-1905), from Thule, which sometimes was identified as Scandinavia.
thumb (n.): Old English þuma, from Proto-Germanic *thumon- (cognates: Old Frisian thuma, Old Saxon, Old High German thumo, German Daumen, Dutch duim "thumb," Old Norse þumall "thumb of a glove"), literally "the stout or thick (finger)," from PIE *tum- "swell," from root *teue- (2) "to swell" (see thigh). For spelling with -b (attested from late 13c.), see limb.
In some of the IE languages there is a single word for "thumb," which is called the "big finger," like NE big toe. Many of the single words are of similar semantic origin, based on the notion of "stout, thick." [Buck]
Compare Greek megas daktylos "thumb," but Greek also had antikheir, literally "what is opposite the fingers." Italian pollice, French pouce are from Latin pollex, perhaps formed (on analogy of index) from pollere "to be strong."

To be under (someone's) thumb "be totally controlled by that person" is recorded from 1580s. Thumbs up (1887) and thumbs down (1906) were said to be from expressions of approval or the opposite in ancient amphitheaters, especially gladiator shows, where the gesture decided whether a defeated combatant was spared or slain. But the Roman gesture was merely one of hiding the thumb in the hand or extending it. Perhaps the modern gesture is from the usual coachmen's way of greeting while the hands are occupied with the reins.
thumb (v.): "to go through" (especially of printed material), 1930, from thumb (n.), though the related sense of "soil or wear by handling" dates from 1640s. Earlier as a verb it meant "to play (a musical instrument) with the thumb" (1590s). Meaning "to hitchhike" is 1939; originally the thumb pointed in the direction one wished to travel. Related: Thumbed; thumbing. To thumb (one's) nose as an expression of derision is recorded from 1903.
thumbnail (n.): c. 1600, from thumb (n.) + nail (n.). Meaning "drawing or sketch of a small size" (though usually not literally the size of a thumbnail) is from 1852.
thumbtack (n.): tack with a broad, flat head which may be driven by pressure from the thumb, 1884, from thumb (n.) + tack (n.1).
thump (v.): 1530s, "to strike hard," probably imitative of the sound made by hitting with a heavy object (compare East Frisian dump "a knock," Swedish dialectal dumpa "to make a noise"). Related: Thumped; thumping.
thump (n.): 1550s, "dull, heavy sound," from thump (v.). As "a hard blow" from 1620s.
thumping (adj.): "exceptionally large," colloquial, 1570s, present participle adjective from thump (v.).
thunder (n.): mid-13c., from Old English þunor "thunder, thunderclap; the god Thor," from Proto-Germanic *thunraz (cognates: Old Norse þorr, Old Frisian thuner, Middle Dutch donre, Dutch donder, Old High German donar, German Donner "thunder"), from PIE *(s)tene- "to resound, thunder" (cognates: Sanskrit tanayitnuh "thundering," Persian tundar "thunder," Latin tonare "to thunder"). Swedish tordön is literally "Thor's din." The intrusive -d- also is found in Dutch and Icelandic versions of the word. Thunder-stick, imagined word used by primitive peoples for "gun," attested from 1904.
thunder (v.): 13c., from Old English þunrian, from the source of thunder (n.). Figurative sense of "to speak loudly, threateningly, or bombastically" is recorded from mid-14c. Related: Thundered; thundering. Compare Dutch donderen, German donnern.