英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

trade (n.)[trade 词源字典]: late 14c., "path, track, course of action," introduced by the Hanse merchants, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German trade "track, course" (probably originally of a ship), cognate with Old English tredan (see tread (v.)).

Sense of "one's habitual business" (1540s) developed from the notion of "way, course, manner of life" (mid-15c.); sense of "buying and selling, exchange of commodities" is from 1550s. Meaning "act of trading" is from 1829. Trade-name is from 1821; trade-route is from 1873; trade-war is from 1899. Trade union is attested from 1831. Trade wind (1640s) has nothing to do with commerce, but preserves the obsolete sense of "in a habitual or regular course."[trade etymology, trade origin, 英语词源]
trade (v.): 1540s, "to tread a path," from trade (n.). Meaning "to occupy oneself (in something)" is recorded from c. 1600. Meaning "to barter" is by 1793. The U.S. sports team sense of "to exchange one player for another" is attested from 1899. Related: Traded; trading. To trade down is attested from 1942; trade up from 1959. Trade places "exchange situations" is from 1917. Trading post is recorded from 1796. Trading stamp, given by merchants and exchangeable for goods, is from 1897.
trade-in (n.): 1917, in reference to used cars, from verbal phrase, from trade (v.) + in (adv.).
trade-off (n.): also tradeoff, "sacrifice of one benefit for another," 1959, from verbal phrase to trade off; see trade (v.) + off (adv.).
trademark (n.): also trade-mark, 1838 (the thing itself attested continuously from 14c., apparently originally the watermarks on paper), from trade (n.) + mark (n.1). Figurative use by 1869. As a verb, from 1904. Related: Trademarked; trademarking.
trader (n.): "dealer, trafficker, one engaged in commerce," 1580s, agent noun from trade (v.).
tradesman (n.): 1590s, from genitive of trade (n.) + man (n.).
tradition (n.): late 14c., "statement, belief, or practice handed down from generation to generation," especially "belief or practice based on Mosaic law," from Old French tradicion "transmission, presentation, handing over" (late 13c.) and directly from Latin traditionem (nominative traditio) "delivery, surrender, a handing down, a giving up," noun of action from past participle stem of tradere "deliver, hand over," from trans- "over" (see trans-) + dare "to give" (see date (n.1)). The word is a doublet of treason (q.v.). Meaning "a long-established custom" is from 1590s. The notion is of customs, ways, beliefs, doctrines, etc. "handed down" from one generation to the next.
"Nobody can make a tradition; it takes a century to make it." [Hawthorne, "Septimius Felton," 1872]
traditional (adj.): 1590s, "observing traditions;" c. 1600, "handed down as tradition," from tradition + -al (1). In reference to jazz, from 1950. Related: Traditionally; traditionalist.
traduce (v.): 1530s, "alter, change over, transport," from Latin traducere "change over, convert," also "lead in parade, make a show of, dishonor, disgrace," originally "lead along or across, bring through, transfer" (source also of French traduire, Spanish traducir, Italian tradurre), from trans- "across" (see trans-) + ducere "to lead" (see duke (n.)). Sense of "defame, slander" in English is from 1580s, from Latin traducere in the sense of "scorn or disgrace," a figurative use from the notion of "to lead along as a spectacle." Related: Traduced; traducing.
traducer (n.): 1610s, agent noun from traduce (v.).
Trafalgar: cape in southwestern Spain, from Arabic taraf-al-garb "end of the west," or taraf-agarr "end of the column" (in reference to the pillars of Hercules). The British naval victory over the French there was fought Oct. 21, 1805; hence London's Trafalgar Square, named in commemoration of it.
traffic (n.): c. 1500, "trade, commerce," from Middle French trafique (15c.), from Italian traffico (14c.), from trafficare "carry on trade," of uncertain origin, perhaps from a Vulgar Latin *transfricare "to rub across," from Latin trans- "across" (see trans-) + fricare "to rub" (see friction), with the original sense of the Italian verb being "touch repeatedly, handle."

Or the second element may be an unexplained alteration of Latin facere "to make, do." Klein suggests ultimate derivation of the Italian word from Arabic tafriq "distribution." Meaning "people and vehicles coming and going" first recorded 1825. Traffic jam is 1917, ousting earlier traffic block (1895). Traffic circle is from 1938.
traffic (v.): 1540s, "to buy and sell," from traffic (n.) and preserving the original commercial sense. Related: Trafficked; trafficking; trafficker. The -k- is inserted to preserve the "k" sound of -c- before a suffix beginning in -i-, -y-, or -e- (compare picnic/picnicking, panic/panicky, shellacshellacked).
tragedian (n.): "writer of tragedies," late 14c., from Old French tragediane (Modern French tragédien), from tragedie (see tragedy). Another word for this was tragician (mid-15c.). Meaning "actor in tragedies" is from 1590s. French-based fem. form tragedienne is from 1851. In late classical Greek, tragodos was the actor, tragodopoios the writer.
tragedy (n.): late 14c., "play or other serious literary work with an unhappy ending," from Old French tragedie (14c.), from Latin tragedia "a tragedy," from Greek tragodia "a dramatic poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy resolution," apparently literally "goat song," from tragos "goat" + oide "song" (see ode).

The connection may be via satyric drama, from which tragedy later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in goatskins to represent satyrs. But many other theories have been made (including "singer who competes for a goat as a prize"), and even the "goat" connection is at times questioned. Meaning "any unhappy event, disaster" is from c. 1500.
tragi-comedy (n.): also tragicomedy, "characterized by both serious and comic scenes," 1570s, from Middle French tragicomédie (1540s), from Italian tragicommedia, from Late Latin tragicomoedia, contraction of tragicocomoedia (Plautus), from tragicus (see tragic) + comoedia (see comedy).
tragi-comic (adj.): "both serious and tragic," 1680s; see from tragi-comedy + -ic. Related: Tragi-comical (1560s).
tragic (adj.): 1540s, "calamitous, disastrous, fatal" ("resembling the actions in a stage tragedy"), shortened from tragical (late 15c.), modeled on Latin tragicus, from Greek tragikos "of or pertaining to tragedy; stately, majestic; plaintive," literally "goatish, of or pertaining to a goat," and perhaps referring to a satyr impersonated by a goat singer or satyric actor, from tragodia (see tragedy). Tragic flaw (1913) translates Greek hamartia. Related: Tragically.
tragus (n.): "eminence at the opening of the ear," 1690s, Modern Latin, from Greek tragos in this sense (Rufus of Ephesus), properly "he-goat;" so called for the tuft of hair which grows there, which resembles a goat's beard.