英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

catenary (adj.)[catenary 词源字典]: 1872, from Latin catenarius "relating to a chain," from catenanus "chained, fettered," from catena "chain, fetter, shackle" (see chain (n.)). As a noun from 1788 in mathematics. Related: Catenarian.[catenary etymology, catenary origin, 英语词源]
chain (v.): late 14c., "to bar with a chain; to put (someone) in chains," also "to link things together," from chain (n.). Related: Chained; chaining.
enchain (v.): late 14c., "become linked together;" mid-15c., "to secure with a chain," from Old French enchainer, from Medieval Latin incatenare "enchain," from in (see in) + catenare, from catena "a chain" (see chain (n.)). Related: Enchained; enchaining.
Prometheus: demigod (son of the Titan Iapetus) who made man from clay and stole fire from heaven and taught mankind its use, for which he was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where a vulture came every day and preyed on his liver. The name is Greek, and anciently was interpreted as literally "forethinker, foreseer," from promethes "thinking before," from pro- "before" (see pro-) + *methos, related to mathein "to learn," from enlargement of PIE root *men- "to think" (see mind (n.)). However Watkins suggests the second element is possibly from a base meaning "to steal," also found in Sanskrit mathnati "he steals."
unchain (v.): 1580s, from un- (2) "opposite of" + chain (v.). Figurative sense of "to liberate" is recorded from 1793. Related: Unchained; unchaining.