英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

wallpaper (n.)[wallpaper 词源字典]: also wall-paper, 1827, from wall (n.) + paper (n.).[wallpaper etymology, wallpaper origin, 英语词源]
wally (n.): term of admiration, Scottish, early 16c., of unknown origin. As a masc. proper name, a diminutive of Walter, and this might be the source of the teen slang term "unfashionable person" (1969).
walnut (n.): Old English walhnutu "nut of the walnut tree," literally "foreign nut," from wealh "foreign" (see Welsh) + hnutu (see nut). Compare Old Norse valhnot, Middle Low German walnut, Middle Dutch walnote, Dutch walnoot, German Walnuss, So called because it was introduced from Gaul and Italy, distinguishing it from the native hazel nut. Compare the Late Latin name for it, nux Gallica, literally "Gaulish nut." Applied to the tree itself from 1600 (earlier walnut tree, c. 1400).
Walpurgis night: 1820, from German Walpurgisnacht, witches' revel, especially on the Brocken in the Harz Mountains, on May-day eve, literally "the night of (St.) Walpurgis," from Walburga, English abbess who migrated to Heidenheim, Germany, and died there c.780; May 1 being the day of the removal of her bones from Heidenheim to Eichstädt.
walrus (n.): 1650s, from Dutch walrus, which was probably a folk-etymology alteration (by influence of Dutch walvis "whale" and ros "horse") of a Scandinavian word, such as Old Norse rosmhvalr "walrus," hrosshvalr "a kind of whale," or rostungr "walrus." Old English had horschwæl, and later morse, from Lapp morsa or Finnish mursu, which ultimately might be the source, much garbled, of the first element in Old Norse rosmhvalr.
Walter: masc. proper name, from Old North French Waltier (Old French Gualtier, Modern French Gautier), of Germanic origin and cognate with Old High German Walthari, Walthere, literally "ruler of the army," from waltan "to rule" (see wield) + hari "host, army" (see harry). Walter Mitty (1939) is from title character in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by U.S. short story writer James Thurber (1894-1961).
waltz (n.): round dance performed to music in triple time, extraordinarily popular as a fashionable dance from late 18c. to late 19c., the dance itself probably of Bohemian origin, 1781, from German Waltzer, from walzen "to roll, dance," from Old High German walzan "to turn, roll," from Proto-Germanic *walt- (cognate with Old Norse velta), from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve" (see volvox). Described in 1825 as "a riotous and indecent German dance" [Walter Hamilton, "A Hand-Book or Concise Dictionary of Terms Used in the Arts and Sciences"].
The music struck up a beautiful air, and the dancers advanced a few steps, when suddenly, to my no small horror and amazement, the gentlemen seized the ladies round the waist, and all, as if intoxicated by this novel juxtaposition, began to whirl about the room, like a company of Bacchanalians dancing round a statue of the jolly god. "A waltz!" exclaimed I, inexpressibly shocked, "have I lived to see Scotch women waltz?" ["The Edinburgh Magazine," April, 1820]
waltz (v.): 1794, from waltz (n.). Meaning "to move nimbly" (as one does in dancing a waltz) is recorded from 1862. Related: Waltzed; waltzing.
wampum (n.): string of seashell beads used as money by Native Americans, 1630s, shortened from New England Algonquian wampumpeag (1620s), "string of white (shell beads);" said to be compounded from wab "white" + ompe "string" + plural suffix -ag.
wan (adj.): Old English wann "dark, dusky, lacking luster," later "leaden, pale, gray," of uncertain origin, and not found in other Germanic languages. The connecting notion is colorlessness. Perhaps related to wane. Related: Wanly; wanness.
wand (n.): c. 1200, from Old Norse vondr "rod, switch" (cognate with Gothic wandus "rod," Middle Swedish vander), from Proto-Germanic *wend- "to turn," see wind (v.)). The notion is of a bending, flexible stick. Compare cognate Old Norse veggr, Old English wag "wall," Old Saxon, Dutch wand, Old High German want, German Wand "wall," originally "wickerwork for making walls," or "wall made of wattle-work" (an insight into early Germanic domestic architecture). Magic wand is attested from c. 1400 and shows the etymological sense of "suppleness" already had been lost.
wander (v.): Old English wandrian "move about aimlessly, wander," from West Germanic *wandran "to roam about" (cognates: Old Frisian wondria, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wanderen, German wandern "to wander," a variant form of the root represented in Old High German wantalon "to walk, wander"), from PIE root *wendh- "to turn, wind, weave" (see wind (v.1)). In reference to the mind, affections, etc., attested from c. 1400. Related: Wandered; wandering. The Wandering Jew of Christian legend first mentioned 13c. (compare French le juif errant, German der ewige Jude).
wanderlust (n.): 1902, from German Wanderlust, literally "desire for wandering" (see wander + lust).
wane (v.): Old English wanian "make or become smaller gradually, diminish, decline, fade," from Proto-Germanic *wanen (cognates: Old Saxon wanon, Old Norse vana, Old Frisian wania, Middle Dutch waenen, Old High German wanon "to wane, to grow less"), from *wano- "lacking," from PIE *we-no-, from root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out" (see vain). Related: Waned; waning; wanes.
wang (n.): "penis," 1933, slang, probably from whangdoodle, an earlier term for "gadget, thing for which the correct name is not known." Many such words (thingy, dingus, etc.) have been used in slang for "penis," not because the actual name was unknown, but because it was unmentionable. Another possibility is that the slang word is a variant of whang "large, thick slice" (1630s), which earlier was used in the sense of "thong" (1530s) and is itself a variant of thwang, an alternative form of thong (see thong). In Old English, wang meant "cheek, jaw," hence wangtoð "cheek-tooth, molar."
wangle (v.): "obtain something by trickery," 1888, originally British printer's slang for "fake by manipulation;" perhaps an alteration of waggle, or of wankle (now dialectal) "unsteady, fickle," from Old English wancol (see wench (n.)). Brought into wider use by World War I soldiers.
waning (adj.): Old English wanunge, wonunge, present participle of wanian (see wane).
wank (n.): "act of (male) masturbation," 1948, slang. As a verb, from 1950. Related: Wanked; wanking.
Wankel (n.): type of rotary internal combustion engine, 1961, from name of German engineer Felix Wankel (1902-1988).
wanker (n.): 1940s, "masturbator," British slang, from wank "to masturbate," of unknown origin. General sense of "contemptible person" is attested from 1972. Compare sense evolution of jerk (n.).