英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

anorak [anorak 词源字典]: anorak: [20] This was originally a word in the Inuit language of Greenland: annoraaq. It came into English in the 1920s, by way of Danish. At first it was used only to refer to the sort of garments worn by Eskimos, but by the 1930s it was being applied to a waterproof hooded coat made in imitation of these. In Britain, such jackets came to be associated with the sort of socially inept obsessives who stereotypically pursue such hobbies as train-spotting and computer-gaming, and by the early 1980s the term ‘anorak’ was being contemptuously applied to them.
[anorak etymology, anorak origin, 英语词源]
feisty: feisty: [19] Feisty, nowadays a colloquial Americanism for ‘quarrelsome’ or ‘spirited’, originated in Middle English as a term for a ‘farting dog’. It goes back to the now obsolete English verb fist ‘fart’, which came ultimately from Indo-European *pezd- (source also of Latin pēdere ‘break wind’, whence English petard ‘small bomb’ [16], as in ‘hoist with one’s own petard’); like *perd-, the Indo-European ancestor of English fart, this was probably of imitative origin.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the expression fisting dog, literally ‘farting dog’, was applied contemptuously to a ‘mongrel’ or ‘cur’. This eventually became shortened to feist, and (mongrels being notoriously combative) feisty was born.
=> fizzle, petard
Boche (n.): "German soldier in World War I," 1914, perhaps from French slang boche "rascal," applied to the Germans; a word of unknown origin. Another theory traces it to French Allemand "German," in eastern French Al(le)moche, altered contemptuously to Alboche by association with caboche, a slang word for "head," literally "cabbage" (compare tete de boche, French for "German" in an 1887 slang dictionary). All the French terms are no older than mid-19c.
broker (n.): late 14c., from Anglo-French brocour "small trader," from abrokur "retailer of wine, tapster;" perhaps from Portuguese alborcar "barter," but more likely from Old French brocheor, from brochier "to broach, tap, pierce (a keg)," from broche "pointed tool" (see broach (n.)), giving original sense of "wine dealer," hence "retailer, middleman, agent." In Middle English, used contemptuously of peddlers and pimps.
cant (n.1): "insincere talk," 1709, earlier it was slang for "whining of beggars" (1640s), from the verb in this sense (1560s), from Old North French canter (Old French chanter) "to sing, chant," from Latin cantare, frequentative of canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)). Sense in English developed after 1680 to mean the jargon of criminals and vagabonds, thence applied contemptuously by any sect or school to the phraseology of its rival.
... Slang is universal, whilst Cant is restricted in usage to certain classes of the community: thieves, vagrom men, and -- well, their associates. ... Slang boasts a quasi-respectability denied to Cant, though Cant is frequently more enduring, its use continuing without variation of meaning for many generations. [John S. Farmer, Forewords to "Musa Pedestris," 1896]
carcass (n.): late 13c., from Anglo-French carcois, from or influenced by Old French charcois (Modern French carcasse) "trunk of a body, chest, carcass," and Anglo-Latin carcosium "dead body," all of uncertain origin. Not used of humans after c. 1750, except contemptuously. Italian carcassa probably is a French loan word.
contemptuous (adj.): 1590s, from Latin contemptus (see contempt). Related: Contemptuously.
cotquean (n.): 1540s, obsolete, "housewife of a cot," from cot (see cottage) + quean; hence "a vulgar beldam, scold" [OED]; also used contemptuously (by Shakespeare, etc.) of men seen as overly interested in housework.
doctrinaire (n.): 1820, from French doctrinaire "impractical person," originally "adherent of doctrines" (14c.), from Latin doctrina (see doctrine).

At first used in the context of French politics, contemptuously applied by rival factions to those who tried to reconcile liberty with royal authority after 1815. Hence, anyone who applies doctrine without making allowance for practical considerations (1831). As an adjective, from 1834.
dug (n.): "animal nipple," or, contemptuously, "the human female breast," 1520s, origin obscure, related to Swedish dagga, Danish dægge "to suckle."
Jack: masc. proper name, 1218, probably an anglicization of Old French Jacques (which was a diminutive of Latin Jacobus; see Jacob), but in English the name always has been associated with Johan, Jan "John," and some have argued that it is a native formation.

Alliterative coupling of Jack and Jill is from 15c. (Ienken and Iulyan). In England, applied familiarly or contemptuously to anybody (especially one of the lower classes) from late 14c. Later used especially of sailors (1650s; Jack-tar is from 1781). In U.S., as a generic name addressed to an unknown stranger, attested from 1889.
Jankin: masc. proper name, from Jan, variant of John, + diminutive suffix -kin. In Middle English, applied contemptuously to priests.
mollycoddle (v.): also molly-coddle, 1870, from a noun (1833) meaning "one who coddles himself," from Molly (pet name formation from Mary), which had been used contemptuously since 1754 for "a milksop, an effeminate man," + coddle (q.v.). Related: Mollycoddled; mollycoddling.
native (n.): mid-15c., "person born in bondage," from native (adj.), and in some usages from Medieval Latin nativus, noun use of nativus (adj.). Compare Old French naif, also "woman born in slavery." From 1530s as "person who has always lived in a place." Applied from mid-17c. to original inhabitants of non-European nations where Europeans hold political power, for example American Indians (by 1630s); hence, used contemptuously of "the locals" from 1800. Related: Natives.
pismire (n.): "ant," late 14c. (early 14c. as a surname), from pyss "urine" (said to be in reference to the acrid smell of an anthill) + mire "an ant," probably from Old Norse maurr "ant" (cognates: Swedish myra, Danish myre, Middle Dutch miere, Dutch mier, Crimean Gothic miera "ant"), from PIE base *morwi- (see Formica (2)). Compare pissant, also early Dutch mierseycke (from seycke "urine"), Finnish kusiainen (from kusi "urine").
He is as angry as a pissemyre,
Though þat he haue al that he kan desire.
[Chaucer]
Applied contemptuously to persons from 1560s.
pooh-pooh (v.): "to dismiss lightly and contemptuously," 1827, a slang reduplication of dismissive expression pooh. Among the many 19th century theories of the origin of language was the Pooh-pooh theory (1860), which held that language grew from natural expressions of surprise, joy, pain, or grief.
rabble (n.1): c. 1300, "pack of animals," possibly related to Middle English rablen "to gabble, speak in a rapid, confused manner," probably imitative of hurry, noise, and confusion (compare Middle Dutch rabbelen, Low German rabbeln "to chatter"). Meaning "tumultuous crowd of vulgar, noisy people" is from late 14c.; applied contemptuously to the common or low part of any populace from 1550s.
sneer (v.): 1550s, "to snort" (of horses), perhaps from North Frisian sneere "to scorn," related to Old English fnæran "to snort, gnash one's teeth," of imitative origin (compare Danish snærre "to grin like a dog," Middle Dutch, Middle High German snarren "to rattle"). Meaning "to smile contemptuously" is from 1670s; sense of "to curl the upper lip in scorn" is attested from 1775. Related: Sneered; sneering. Sneer word is in E. Digby Baltzell (1987).
snob (n.): 1781, "a shoemaker, a shoemaker's apprentice," of unknown origin. It came to be used in Cambridge University slang c. 1796, often contemptuously, for "townsman, local merchant," and passed then into literary use, where by 1831 it was being used for "person of the ordinary or lower classes." Meaning "person who vulgarly apes his social superiors" is by 1843, popularized 1848 by William Thackeray's "Book of Snobs." The meaning later broadened to include those who insist on their gentility, in addition to those who merely aspire to it, and by 1911 the word had its main modern sense of "one who despises those considered inferior in rank, attainment, or taste."
snout (n.): early 13c., "trunk or projecting nose of an animal," from Middle Low German and Middle Dutch snute "snout," from Proto-Germanic *snut- (cognates: German Schnauze, Norwegian snut, Danish snude "snout"), which Watkins traces to a hypothetical Germanic root *snu- forming words having to do with the nose, imitative of a sudden drawing of breath (compare Old English gesnot "nasal mucus;" German schnauben "pant, puff, snort" (Austrian dialect), schnaufen "breathe heavily, pant," Schnupfen "cold in the head;" Old Norse snaldr "snout" (of a serpent), snuthra "to sniff, snuffle"). Of other animals and (contemptuously) of humans from c. 1300.
tripe (n.): c. 1300, from Old French tripe "guts, intestines, entrails used as food" (13c.), of unknown origin, perhaps via Spanish tripa from Arabic therb "suet" [Klein, Barnhart]. Applied contemptuously to persons (1590s), then to anything considered worthless, foolish, or offensive (1892).
po-faced: "Humourless and disapproving", 1930s: perhaps from po, influenced by poker-faced. More The po in po-faced, ‘humourless and disapproving’, probably comes from the use of po to mean ‘chamber pot’, though it might also have been influenced by the exclamation ‘poh!’, used to reject something contemptuously. In any event, the phrase is likely to be modelled on the expression poker-faced (early 20th century). This comes from the need to keep a deadpan face when playing poker. The game, first recorded in the 1830s in the USA probably gets its name from the German word pochen ‘to brag’.