英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

which (pron.)[which 词源字典]: Old English hwilc (West Saxon, Anglian), hwælc (Northumbrian) "which," short for hwi-lic "of what form," from Proto-Germanic *hwa-lik- (cognates: Old Saxon hwilik, Old Norse hvelikr, Swedish vilken, Old Frisian hwelik, Middle Dutch wilk, Dutch welk, Old High German hwelich, German welch, Gothic hvileiks "which"), from *hwi- "who" (see who) + *likan "body, form" (cognates: Old English lic "body;" see like (adj.)). In Middle English used as a relative pronoun where Modern English would use who, as still in the Lord's Prayer. Old English also had parallel forms hwelc and hwylc, which disappeared 15c.[which etymology, which origin, 英语词源]
whichever (pron.): late 14c., from which + ever. Emphatic extended form whichsoever attested from mid-15c.
whicker (v.): 1650s, "snigger," imitative (compare snicker). As imitative of a sound made by a horse, from 1753. As the sound of something beating the air, from 1920. Related: Whickered; whickering.
whiff (n.): 13c., weffe "foul scent or odor," of imitative origin. Modern form became popular late 16c. with tobacco smoking, probably influenced by whiffle "blow in gusts or puffs" (1560s). The verb in the baseball slang sense "to swing at a ball and miss" first recorded 1913.
whiffle (v.): "flicker or flutter as if blown by the wind," 1660s; see whiff. The noun meaning "something light or insignificant" (1670s) is preserved in whiffle-ball (1931).
Whig: British political party, 1657, in part perhaps a disparaging use of whigg "a country bumpkin" (1640s); but mainly a shortened form of Whiggamore (1649) "one of the adherents of the Presbyterian cause in western Scotland who marched on Edinburgh in 1648 to oppose Charles I." Perhaps originally "a horse drover," from dialectal verb whig "to urge forward" + mare. In 1689 the name was first used in reference to members of the British political party that opposed the Tories. American Revolution sense of "colonist who opposes Crown policies" is from 1768. Later it was applied to opponents of Andrew Jackson (as early as 1825), and taken as the name of a political party (1834) that merged into the Republican Party in 1854-56.
[I]n the spring of 1834 Jackson's opponents adopted the name Whig, traditional term for critics of executive usurpations. James Watson Webb, editor of the New York Courier and Enquirer, encouraged use of the name. [Henry] Clay gave it national currency in a speech on April 14, 1834, likening "the whigs of the present day" to those who had resisted George III, and by summer it was official. [Daniel Walker Howe, "What Hath God Wrought," 2007, p.390]
Whig historian is recorded from 1924. Whig history is "the tendency in many historians ... to emphasise certain principles of progress in the past and to produce a story which is the ratification if not the glorification of the present." [Herbert Butterfield, "The Whig Interpretation of History," 1931]
Whiggery (n.): "principles or practices of the Whigs," 1680s, from Whig + -ery.
Whiggish (adj.): 1670s, from Whig + -ish.
while (n.): Old English hwile, accusative of hwil "a space of time," from Proto-Germanic *hwilo (cognates: Old Saxon hwil, Old Frisian hwile, Old High German hwila, German Weile, Gothic hveila "space of time, while"), originally "rest" (compare Old Norse hvila "bed," hvild "rest"), from PIE *kwi-lo-, suffixed form of root *kweie- (2) "to rest" (cognates: Avestan shaitish "joy," Old Persian šiyatish "joy," Latin quies "rest, repose, quiet," Old Church Slavonic po-koji "rest"). Notion of "period of rest" became in Germanic "period of time."

Now largely superseded by time except in formulaic constructions (such as all the while). Middle English sense of "short space of time spent in doing something" now only preserved in worthwhile and phrases such as worth (one's) while. As a conjunction, "during or in the time that; as long as" (late Old English), it represents Old English þa hwile þe, literally "the while that." Form whiles is recorded from early 13c.; whilst is from late 14c., with excrescent -st as in amongst, amidst. Service while-you-wait is attested from 1911.
while (v.): "to cause (time) to pass (without dullness)," 1630s, earlier "to occupy or engage (someone or something) for a period of time" (c. 1600), new formation from while (n.), not considered to be from Middle English hwulen "to have leisure," which is from a Germanic verb form of while (n.) (compare German weilen "to stay, linger"). An association with phrases such as Shakespearean beguile the day, Latin diem decipere, French tromper le temps "has led to the substitution of WILE v by some modern writers" [OED] (see wile (v.)).
whilom (adv.): "at time past" (archaic), c. 1200, from Old English hwilum "at times," dative case of while (q.v.). As a conjunction from 1610s. Similar formation in German weiland "formerly."
whilst (adv.): late 14c., from while (q.v.) with adverbial genitive -s-, and excrescent -t- (as in amongst, amidst, betwixt).
whim (n.): 1640s, "play on words, pun," shortened from whimwham "fanciful object" (q.v.). Meaning "caprice, fancy, sudden turn or inclination of the mind" first recorded 1690s, probably a shortened form of whimsy.
whimper (v.): 1510s, probably of imitative origin, or from German wimmern "to whimper, moan." Related: Whimpered; whimpering. The noun is first recorded c. 1700.
whimsical (adj.): 1650s, from whimsy + -ical. Related: Whimsically.
whimsy (n.): c. 1600, probably related to whimwham.
whimwham (n.): "whimsical device, trifle," 1520s, of unknown origin; perhaps from Scandinavian (compare Old Norse hvima "to let the eyes wander," Norwegian kvima "to flutter"), or else an arbitrary native formation (compare flim-flam).
whine (v.): Old English hwinan "to whiz, hiss, or whistle through the air" (only of arrows), also hwinsian "to whine" (of dogs), ultimately of imitative origin (compare Old Norse hvina "to whiz," German wiehern "to neigh"). Meaning "to complain in a feeble way" is first recorded 1520s. Related: Whined; whining.
whine (n.): 1630s, from whine (v.).
whiney (adj.): also whiny, from whine + -y (2).