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vers libre (n.)[vers libre 词源字典]: 1902, from French, literally "free verse," lines of varying length.
I remarked some years ago, in speaking of vers libre, that 'no vers is libre for the man who wants to do a good job.' The term, which fifty years ago had an exact meaning in relation to the French alexandrine, now means too much to mean anything at all. [T.S. Eliot, introduction to "Selected Poems of Ezra Pound," 1928]
[vers libre etymology, vers libre origin, 英语词源]
Versailles: place outside Paris, of uncertain origin; perhaps from Latin versus "slope." Louis XIII built a hunting lodge there; made into a palace 17c. by Louis XIV.
versant (adj.): 1640s, "busy" (with something), from Latin versantem (nominative versans), present participle of versare (see versus). Meaning "familiar, acquainted" is from 1787.
versatile (adj.): c. 1600, "inconstant," from Latin versatilis "turning, revolving, moving, capable of turning with ease to varied subjects or tasks," from past participle stem of versare "keep turning, be engaged in something, turn over in the mind," frequentative of vertere "to turn" (see versus). Meaning "able to do many things well" is from 1762 in English.
versatility (n.): 1755, "fickleness," from versatile + -ity. As "ability to do many things well" from 1798.
verse (n.): late Old English (replacing Old English fers, an early West Germanic borrowing directly from Latin), "line or section of a psalm or canticle," later "line of poetry" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French and Old French vers "line of verse; rhyme, song," from Latin versus "a line, row, line of verse, line of writing," from PIE root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). The metaphor is of plowing, of "turning" from one line to another (vertere = "to turn") as a plowman does.
Verse was invented as an aid to memory. Later it was preserved to increase pleasure by the spectacle of difficulty overcome. That it should still survive in dramatic art is a vestige of barbarism. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]
The English New Testament first was divided fully into verses in the Geneva version (1550s). Meaning "metrical composition" is recorded from c. 1300; as the non-repeating part of a modern song (between repetitions of the chorus) by 1918.
The Negroes say that in form their old songs usually consist in what they call "Chorus and Verses." The "chorus," a melodic refrain sung by all, opens the song; then follows a verse sung as a solo, in free recitative; the chorus is repeated; then another verse; chorus again;--and so on until the chorus, sung for the last time, ends the song. [Natalie Curtis-Burlin, "Negro Folk-Songs," 1918]
versed (adj.): "practiced, conversant, acquainted," c. 1600, from past participle of obsolete verse "to turn over" (a book, subject, etc.) in study or investigation, from Middle French verser "to turn, revolve" as in meditation (12c.), from Latin versare "be employed, busy oneself," literally "to turn to, turn often; think over" (see versus).
versification (n.): c. 1600, from Latin versificationem (nominative versificatio), noun of action from past participle stem of versificare (see versify).
versify (v.): late 14c., "compose verse, write poetry, make verses," from Old French versifier "turn into verse" (13c.), from Latin versificare "compose verse; put into verse," from versus "verse" (see verse) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Transitive sense of "put into verse" in English is from 1735. Related: Versified; versifying; versifier (mid-14c.).
version (n.): 1580s, "a translation," from Middle French version, from Medieval Latin versionem (nominative versio) "a turning, a translation," from past participle stem of Latin vertere "to turn, change, alter, translate" (see versus). Also with a Middle English sense of "destruction;" the meaning "particular form of a description" is first attested 1788.
verso (n.): "reverse, back, or other side of some object," especially a printed page or book, 1839, from Latin verso (folio), ablative singular neuter of versus, past participle of vertere "to turn" (see versus).
verst (n.): Russian unit of distance measure equal to about two-thirds of a mile, 1550s, from Russian versta, related to Old Church Slavonic vrusta "stadium," vruteti (Russian vertet) "to turn" (see versus).
versus (prep.): mid-15c., in legal case names, denoting action of one party against another, from Latin versus "turned toward or against," from past participle of vertere (frequentative versare) "to turn, turn back, be turned, convert, transform, translate, be changed," from PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (cognates: Old English -weard "toward," originally "turned toward," weorthan "to befall," wyrd "fate, destiny," literally "what befalls one;" Sanskrit vartate "turns round, rolls;" Avestan varet- "to turn;" Old Church Slavonic vrŭteti "to turn, roll," Russian vreteno "spindle, distaff;" Lithuanian ver čiu "to turn;" Greek rhatane "stirrer, ladle;" German werden, Old English weorðan "to become" (for sense, compare turn into); Welsh gwerthyd "spindle, distaff;" Old Irish frith "against").
vert (n.): mid-15c., "the color green" (especially in heraldry), also "trees and brush bearing green leaves" (in forest law), from Anglo-French and Old French vert "foliage, greenery, green cloth," from Latin viridem, viridis "green" (see verdure).
vert (v.): "to turn in some direction," 1570s, from Latin vertere (see versus). As a noun meaning "one who has left the Church of England" from 1864, short for convert (v.).
vertebra (n.): "bone of the spine," early 15c., from Latin vertebra "joint or articulation of the body, joint of the spine" (plural vertebræ), perhaps from vertere "to turn" (see versus) + instrumental suffix -bra. The notion would be the spine as the "hinge" of the body.
vertebral (adj.): 1680s, from vertebra + -al (1).
vertebrate (n.): "a vertebrate animal," 1826, from Latin vertebratus (Pliny), from vertebra "joint or articulation of the body, joint of the spine" (see vertebra). As an adjective also from 1826.
vertex (n.): 1560s, "the point opposite the base in geometry," from Latin vertex "highest point," literally "the turning point," originally "whirling column, whirlpool," from vertere "to turn" (see versus). Meaning "highest point of anything" is first attested 1640s.
vertical (adj.): 1550s, "of or at the vertex, directly overhead," from Middle French vertical (1540s), from Late Latin verticalis "overhead," from Latin vertex (genitive verticis) "highest point" (see vertex). Meaning "straight up and down" is first recorded 1704. As a noun meaning "the vertical position or line" from 1834. Related: Vertically.