英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

extrinsic [extrinsic 词源字典]: extrinsic: see intrinsic
[extrinsic etymology, extrinsic origin, 英语词源]
insect: insect: [17] The Greek word for ‘insect’ was éntomon (source of English entomology [18]). It was derived from entémnein ‘cut up’, a compound verb formed from en- ‘in’ and témnein ‘cut’ (a close relative of English tome), and denoted literally ‘creature divided up into segments’. The term was translated literally into Latin as insectum (originally the past participle of insecāre, a compound verb formed from inand secāre ‘cut’), and seems to have been introduced into English in Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Natural History 1601.
=> section
insert: insert: see series
inside: inside: [16] Inside (a compound, of course, of in and side) was originally a noun, meaning ‘inner surface’ (‘Solomon builded the walls on the inside with Cedar timber’, Miles Coverdale’s translation of I Kings 6:15 1535), and it was not used as an adjective until the early 17th century – by Shakespeare, in fact. Adverbial and prepositional use are more recent still, from around the end of the 18th century.
=> side
insidious: insidious: see session
insignia: insignia: see sign
insist: insist: see statue
insouciant: insouciant: see solicit
inspire: inspire: see spirit
instal: instal: [16] To instal someone was originally literally to put them ‘into a stall’. The word comes from medieval Latin installāre, a compound verb based on the noun stallum ‘stall’, and referred originally to the formal induction of someone into an office by ceremonially placing them in a seat or ‘stall’, such as the choir stall of a cathedral. The instalof instalment [18], incidentally, is a different word, although the two are ultimately related.

It is an alteration of an earlier estallment ‘arrangement for payment’, which came from Anglo-Norman estaler ‘fix payments’. This was a derivative of estal ‘fixed position’, which was borrowed from Old High German stal ‘place’ (source also of medieval Latin stallum).
=> instalment, stall
instant: instant: [15] Latin instāre meant ‘be present’ (it was a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘upon’ and stāre ‘stand’). Its present participle instāns was used adjectivally for ‘present’, and hence by extension for ‘urgent’. The latter was actually the meaning originally taken up by English, but it has now virtually died out. ‘Present’ was introduced in the mid-16th century (it now survives in the abbreviation inst, used in giving dates to signify ‘the present month’), and by the end of the century this had evolved into the main current sense ‘immediate’.

The noun instant ‘moment’ comes from medieval Latin tempus instāns ‘present time’. Derived from instāns was the Latin noun instantia ‘presence, urgency’. Again it was the latter that originally came into English with instance [14]. The main modern sense ‘example’, first recorded in the 16th century, appears to come ultimately from a semantic progression in medieval Latin from ‘urgency’ to ‘eager solicitation’ and hence to ‘legal pleading’.

Further metaphoricization took it on to ‘new argument or example adduced to counter a previous one’, and hence in due course to simply ‘example’.
=> instance, stand, station, statue
instead: instead: [13] Instead is the English end of a chain of loan translations that goes back to Latin in locō (in loan translations, the individual components of a foreign word or expression are translated into their equivalents in the borrowing language, and then reassembled). The Latin phrase meant literally ‘in place (of)’, and this was translated into Old French as en lieu de.

Middle English rendered the French expression in turn as in stead of or in the stead of (stead ‘place’, now obsolete except in certain fixed compounds and expressions, comes ultimately from the same Indo-European source as stand, station, etc). It began to be written as one word towards the end of the 16th century.
=> stand, station, statue, stead
instigate: instigate: see stick
instil: instil: see still
instinct: instinct: [15] The etymological notion underlying instinct (and also the closely related instigate) is of ‘goading onwards with a pointed stick’. Its ultimate source is Latin instinguere ‘urge onwards, incite’, a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘on’ and stinguere ‘prick, goad’. Source also of English distinct and extinct, this goes back to the same root, *stig-, as produced English stick and Latin stīgāre ‘prick, goad’, the ancestor of English instigate [16].

The noun derived from it, instinctus, originally meant ‘incitement, instigation’, but it eventually moved on to ‘impulse’, the sense it had when English acquired it. The more specialized ‘innate impulse’ developed in the mid 16th century.
=> distinct, extinct, instigate, stick
institute: institute: [15] An institute is etymologically something ‘established’ or ‘set up’. Its ancestor is Latin instituere ‘establish’, a compound verb formed from the prefix in- and statuere ‘set up’ (itself a derivative of stāre ‘stand’ and source of English prostitute, statute, etc). The noun derived from this was institūtum, which meant ‘purpose, plan, practice’.

Word and senses were taken over as a package by English, but these meanings are now dead or dying, having been taken over since the 19th century by ‘organization that promotes a particular cause or pursuit’ (this originated in French at the end of the 18th century). The verb institute, however, remains far closer to the original Latin meaning.
=> prostitute, stand, station, statute
instruct: instruct: [15] The -struct of instruct occurs also in construction, destruction, structure, etc. It comes from the past participle of Latin struere ‘build’. In the case of instruct, combination with the prefix in- produced instruere ‘build, prepare, equip, teach’, whose past participle stem instruct- formed the basis of the English verb.
=> construct, destroy, instrument, structure
instrument: instrument: [13] Instrument comes from the same source as instruct: the Latin verb instruere ‘build, prepare, equip, teach’. From it was derived the noun instrūmentum, which meant ‘tool, equipment’. When introduced into English via Old French at the end of the 13th century it was used for a ‘musical instrument’, but the more general ‘implement’ and the metaphorical ‘means’ soon followed in the 14th century.
=> construct, destroy, instruct, structure
insular: insular: see island
insulin: insulin: [20] Insulin, a hormone which promotes the utilization of blood sugar, was first isolated in 1921 by F G Banting and C H Best. Its name, which was inspired by the fact that insulin is secreted by groups of cells known as the islets of Langerhans (insula is Latin for ‘island’), was actually coined in French around 1909, and was independently proposed in English on a couple of further occasions before the substance itself was anything more than a hypothesis.
=> isle, peninsula
insult: insult: [16] The -sult of insult comes from a word that meant ‘jump’. Its source was Latin insultāre ‘jump on’, a compound verb based on saltāre ‘jump’. This was a derivative of salīre ‘jump’, source in one way or another of English assail, assault, desultory, salacious, and salient. Old French took insultāre over as insulter and used it for ‘triumph over in an arrogant way’. This was how the word was originally used in English, but at the beginning of the 17th century the now familiar sense ‘abuse’ (which had actually developed first in the Latin verb) was introduced.
=> assail, assault, desultory, salacious, salient
insuperable: insuperable: see super
insure: insure: [15] Insure and ensure [14] are ultimately the same word. And their common ancestor started out, in fact, as a variant of assure [14]. This came via Old French asseurer from Vulgar Latin *assēcūrāre, a compound verb formed from the Latin prefix ad- ‘to’ and the adjective sēcūrus ‘safe’ (source of English secure and sure).

Anglo-Norman had a variant form, enseurer, which produced English ensure. From fairly early on this had been alternatively spelled insure (using the Latinate prefix in-), but it was not until the 17th century that this version became established in the sense ‘provide cover against loss, damage, etc’ (for which previously the more usual term had actually been assure).
=> assure, ensure, secure, sure
insurgent: insurgent: [18] An insurgent is etymologically someone who ‘rises up’. The word comes from the Latin verb insurgere, which was formed from in- in the sense ‘against’ and surgere ‘rise’ (source of English surge and source). An insurgent is hence fairly straightforwardly a rebel, someone taking part in an uprising, a belligerent who is not part of an officially recognized fighting force.

Choice of vocabulary in this area tends to be controversial, however, and the use of insurgent to denote Iraqi irredentists after the Coalition invasion of 2003 was widely criticized – partly, perhaps, from the misconception that they were being characterized as ‘surging in’ from outside the country. The longer established insurrection [15], from the same ultimate source, is much less liable to such misunderstanding.
=> resource, resurrection, source, surge
intrinsic: intrinsic: [15] The Latin adverb intrinsecus meant ‘on the inside’. It was formed from *intrim ‘inward’, an unrecorded derivative of the adverb intrā ‘within’, and secus ‘alongside’ (a relative of English second, sect, sequel, etc). In the post-classical period it came to be used as an adjective, meaning ‘inward’, and it passed into Old French as intrinseque ‘inner, internal’.

This general concrete sense accompanied the word into English, but it now survives only as an anatomical term, meaning ‘situated within a body part’. The abstract sense ‘inherent’, now the adjective’s main meaning, developed in the 17th century. The derivation of the antonym extrinsic [16] is precisely parallel, with Latin extrā ‘outside’ taking the place of intrā.
=> extrinsic, second, sect, sequel
matins: matins: see mature
minster: minster: see monk
minstrel: minstrel: [13] Originally minstrel, like its close relative minister, denoted a ‘servant’. Its musical associations are a comparatively recent development. It goes back ultimately to late Latin ministeriālis ‘official’, a derivative of Latin ministerium (source of English ministry). Old French took it over as menestral, and it was here that a gradual specialization in meaning took place, from ‘servant’ via ‘entertainer’ to ‘singer’.
=> minister
peninsula: peninsula: see island
quinsy: quinsy: [14] Quinsy, a now virtually obsolete term for ‘sore throat’, has one of those etymologies that strain credulity to the limit. For it comes ultimately from a Greek term that meant literally ‘dog-strangling’. This was kunágkhē, a compound formed from kúōn ‘dog’ (a distant relative of English hound) and ágkhein ‘strangle’, which originally denoted a sort of throat infection of dogs, which impaired their breathing, and was subsequently extended to a similar complaint in humans. English acquired the word via medieval Latin quinancia and Old French quinencie.
=> hound
Siamese twins: Siamese twins: [19] The original ‘Siamese twins’ were two males, Chang and Eng (1811– 74), born in Siam (now Thailand), who were joined together at the hip. No attempt was made to separate them, and they lived to a respectable age; each married and fathered children. In an age unembarrassed to be interested in ‘freaks’, they gained considerable public attention, and by the 1850s Siamese twins seems to have established itself as a generic term. The late 20th century’s aversion from associating physical defects with racial or national groups has ousted it in favour of ‘conjoined twins’.
spinster: spinster: see spin
tinsel: tinsel: [16] Tinsel is etymologically something that ‘sparkles’. Its ultimate source is Latin scintilla ‘spark’, which has also given English scintillate [17]. This was altered in the postclassical period to *stincilla, which passed into Old French as estincele ‘spark’. From this was derived the adjective estincelé ‘sparkling’, which was applied particularly to fabric with metallic thread woven into it. English took this over as tinselle, originally an adjective but soon used as a noun. Its derogatory connotations of ‘gaudiness’ or ‘cheap glamour’ began to emerge in the 17th century.
=> scintillate, stencil
wainscot: wainscot: [14] Wainscot was borrowed from Middle Low German wagenschot. It is not altogether clear what the origins of this were, but the generally accepted theory is that it is a compound of wagen ‘waggon’ and schot ‘planks, boards’, and that it therefore originally meant ‘planks used for making waggons’. To begin with it was applied in English to ‘highgrade oak imported from Russia, Germany, and Holland’. Such wood was used mainly for panelling rooms, and by the 16th century wainscot had come to signify ‘wood panelling’.
=> waggon, wain
winsome: winsome: see wish
against (adv.): early 12c., agenes "in opposition to," a southern variant of agen "again" (see again), with adverbial genitive. The parasitic -t turned up mid-14c. and was standard by early 16c., perhaps from influence of superlatives.
brainstorm (n.): "brilliant idea, mental excitement, fit of mental application," 1849, from brain (n.) + figurative use of storm (n.). As a verb, recorded from 1920s. Related: Brainstormed; brainstorming.
buttinski (n.): a jocular name for one who cuts into a line, etc., 1902, American English, from verbal phrase butt in (see butt (v.)) + surname ending based on Eastern European names.
chainsaw (n.): also chain saw, chain-saw; 1818 as a surgical apparatus; 1835 in the saw mill sense, from chain (n.) + saw (n.).
Christy Minstrels: a blackface troupe originated c. 1843 by Edwin P. Christy in Buffalo, N.Y.; one of the first (along with Dan Emmett) to expand blackface from a solo act to a full minstrel show and bring it into the mainstream of American entertainment.
Collins (n.): "iced gin drink served in a tall glass" (called a Collins glass), 1940, American English; earlier Tom Collins (by 1878), of uncertain origin. Popular in early 1940s; bartending purists at the time denied it could be based on anything but gin. The surname (12c.) is from a masc. proper name, a diminutive of Col, itself a pet form of Nicholas.
counterinsurgency (n.): 1962, from counter- + insurgency.
deinstitutionalization (n.): 1967 (disinstitutionalization is attested from 1955), from de- + institutionalization.
Dobermann pinscher (n.): 1917, for Ludwig Dobermann, 19c. German dog-breeder in Thuringia. Pinscher "fox terrier" seems to be a 19c. borrowing from English pinch (see Kluge).
Der Kutscher aus gutem Hause verschafft sich, wie er kann und wenn er kann, einen ganz kleinen englischen Pinscher, der den Pferden sehr gut gut folgt und die großen Dänen von ehedem ersetzt hat, aus J.J. Rousseau's Zeit, der von dem dänischen Hunde umgerannt wurde, wie ihr wißt. ["Paris, oder, Das Buch der Hundert und Ein," Volume 6, Theodor Hell (pseud.), Potsdam, 1833]
Einstein (n.): as a type-name for a person of genius, 1920, in reference to German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who was world-famous from 1919 through media accounts of his work in theoretical physics. According to "German-American Names" (George F. Jones, 3rd ed., 2006) it means literally "place encompassed by a stone wall."
einsteinium (n.): radioactive element, discovered in the debris of a 1952 U.S. nuclear test in the Pacific, named 1955 for physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955).
extrinsic (adj.): "not of the essence or inner nature of a thing," 1540s, from French extrinsèque, from Late Latin extrinsecus (adj.) "outer," from Latin extrinsecus (adv.) "outwardly, on the outside; from without, from abroad," from exter "outside" + in, suffix of locality, + secus "beside, alongside," originally "following," from PIE *sekw-os "following," from root *sekw- (1) "to follow" (see sequel).
gainsay (v.): "contradict, deny, dispute," c. 1300, literally "say against," from gain- (Old English gegn- "against;" see again) + say (v.). In Middle English it translates Latin contradicere. "Solitary survival of a once common prefix" [Weekley]. It also figured in such now-obsolete compounds as gain-taking "taking back again," gainclap "a counterstroke," gainbuy "redeem," Gaincoming "Second Advent," and gainstand "to oppose." Related: Gainsaid; gainsaying.
gainst (adv.): also 'gainst, shortened form of against.
gemeinschaft (n.): 1913, as a German word in English (the article suggests "Parish Brotherhoods" as a translation of German Gemeinschaften), from German Gemeinschaft "social relationship based on affection or kinship" (contrasted with gesellschaft), from gemein "common, general" (see mean (adj.1)) + -schaft (see -ship).