英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

amaze [amaze 词源字典]: amaze: [OE] Old English āmasian meant ‘stupefy’ or ‘stun’, with perhaps some reminiscences of an original sense ‘stun by hitting on the head’ still adhering to it. Some apparently related forms in Scandinavian languages, such as Swedish masa ‘be sluggish’ and Norwegian dialect masast ‘become unconscious’, suggest that it may originally have been borrowed from Old Norse.

The modern sense ‘astonish’ did not develop until the end of the 16th century; Shakespeare was one of its earliest exponents: ‘Crystal eyes, whose full perfection all the world amazes’, Venus and Adonis 1592. By the end of the 13th century both the verb and its related noun had developed a form without the initial a-, and in the late 14th century the word – maze – had begun to be applied to a deliberately confusing structure.
=> maze[amaze etymology, amaze origin, 英语词源]
avoid: avoid: [14] Avoid at first meant literally ‘make void, empty’. It was formed in Old French from the adjective vuide ‘empty’ (source of English void [13], and derived from a hypothetical Vulgar Latin *vocitus, which is related ultimately to vacant). With the addition of the prefix es- ‘out’, a verb evuider was formed, which passed into English via Anglo-Norman avoider. The original sense ‘empty’ barely survived into the 17th century, but meanwhile it had progressed through ‘withdrawing, so as to leave someone alone or leave a place empty’ to ‘deliberately staying away from someone or something’.
=> vacant, void
derring-do: derring-do: [16] Derring-do arose from a misunderstanding of the Middle English phrase dorring do, which literally meant ‘daring to do’ (dorren was the Middle English form of dare). In some 16th-century editions of medieval authors this was misprinted as derring do. The poet Edmund Spenser came across it and used it several times in his often deliberately archaic verse – but as a noun, meaning ‘boldness’, rather than as the verbal phrase it actually was: ‘a man of mickle name, renowned much in arms and derring do’, Faerie Queene 1596. Spenser’s usage was picked up and popularized by Sir Walter Scott in the early 19th century.
=> dare
ego: ego: [19] Ego is Latin for ‘I’ (and comes in fact from the same Indo-European base as produced English I). English originally acquired it in the early 19th century as a philosophical term for the ‘conscious self’, and the more familiar modern uses – ‘self-esteem’, or more derogatorily ‘selfimportance’, and the psychologist’s term (taken up by Freud) for the ‘conscious self’ – date from the end of the century.

Derivatives include egoism [18], borrowed from French égoïsme, and egotism [18], perhaps deliberately coined with the t to distinguish it from egoism. And the acquisitions do not end there: alter ego, literally ‘other I, second self’, was borrowed in the 16th century, and the Freudian term superego, ‘beyond I’, entered the language in the 1920s.
=> i
irony: irony: [16] Irony has no etymological connection with iron. It comes via Latin īrōnia from Greek eirōneíā, which signified ‘deliberately pretending ignorance, particularly as a rhetorical device to get the better of one’s opponent in argument’. This was a derivative of eírōn ‘dissembler’, which in turn came from the verb eírein ‘say’. This original sense of ‘dissimulation’ survives in the expression Socratic irony, a reference to Socrates’ use of such feigned ignorance as a pedagogical method, but it has been overtaken as the main sense of the word by ‘saying the opposite of what one means’.
sabotage: sabotage: [20] The etymological idea underlying sabotage is of ‘clattering along in noisy shoes’. For its ultimate ancestor is French sabot, a word of unknown origin which means ‘clog’. From it was derived saboter ‘walk along noisily in clogs’, hence (via the notion of ‘clumsiness’) ‘do work badly’, and finally ‘destroy tools, machines, etc deliberately’. This in turn formed the basis of the noun sabotage, which originally denoted the ‘destruction of machinery, etc by factory workers’, but gradually broadened out to include any deliberate disruptive destruction. English acquired it around 1910.
abort (v.): 1570s, "to miscarry," from Latin abortus, past participle of aboriri "to miscarry" (see abortive); 1610s as "to deliberately terminate" anything, but especially a pregnancy, which seems to be the literal sense. Transitive meaning "to cause a woman to miscarry" is recorded from 1933. Related: Aborted; aborting.
accessible (adj.): c. 1400, "affording access," from Middle French accessible, from Late Latin accessibilis, verbal adjective from Latin accessus "a coming near, approach" (see access (n.)). Meaning "easy to reach" is from 1640s; Of art or writing, "able to be readily understood," 1961 (a term not needed in the years before writing or art often deliberately was made not so).
backfire (n.): 1839, American English, originally "a fire deliberately lit ahead of an advancing prairie fire to deprive it of fuel," from back (adj.) + fire (n.). As a verb in this sense, recorded from 1886. The meaning "premature ignition in an internal-combustion engine" is first recorded 1897. Of schemes, plans, etc., "to affect the initiator rather than the intended object" it is attested from 1912, a figurative use from the accidental back-firing of firearms.
brass (n.): Old English bræs "brass, bronze," originally in reference to an alloy of copper and tin (now bronze), later and in modern use an alloy of two parts copper, one part zinc. A mystery word, with no known cognates beyond English. Perhaps akin to French brasser "to brew," because it is an alloy. It also has been compared to Old Swedish brasa "fire," but no sure connection can be made. Yet another theory connects it with Latin ferrum "iron," itself of obscure origin.

As brass was unknown in antiquity, use of the word in Bible translations, etc., likely means "bronze." The Romans were the first to deliberately make it. Words for "brass" in other languages (such as German Messing, Old English mæsling, French laiton, Italian ottone) also tend to be difficult to explain.

The meaning "effrontery, impudence" is from 1620s. Slang sense of "high officials" is first recorded 1899. The brass tacks that you get down to (1897) probably are the ones used to measure cloth on the counter of a dry goods store, suggesting precision. Slang brass balls "toughness, courage" (emphatically combining two metaphors for the same thing) attested by 1960s.
button (n.): c. 1300 (surname Botouner "button-maker" attested from mid-13c.), from Old French boton "a button," originally "a bud" (12c., Modern French bouton), from bouter, boter "to thrust," common Romanic (Spanish boton, Italian bottone), ultimately from Germanic (see butt (v.)). Thus a button is, etymologically, something that pushes up, or thrusts out.

Meaning "point of the chin" is pugilistic slang, by 1921. A button as something you push to create an effect by closing an (electrical) circuit is attested from 1840s. Button-pusher as "deliberately annoying or provocative person" is attested by 1990 (in reference to Bill Gates, in "InfoWorld" magazine, Nov. 19). In the 1980s it meant "photographer."
Capitol (n.): "building where U.S. Congress meets," 1793 (in writings of Thomas Jefferson), from Latin Capitolium, temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome. Used earlier of Virginia state houses (1699). Its use in American public architecture deliberately evokes Roman republican imagery. With reference to the Roman citadel, it is recorded in English from late 14c., via Old North French capitolie. Relationship of Capitoline to capital is likely but not certain.
churlish (adj.): late Old English cierlisc "of or pertaining to churls," from churl + -ish. Meaning "deliberately rude" is late 14c. Related: Churlishly; churlishness.
deliberate (adj.): early 15c., "done with careful consideration," from Latin deliberatus "resolved upon, determined," past participle of deliberare (see deliberation). Meaning "slow, consciously unhurried" is attested by 1590s. Related: Deliberately.
doughty (adj.): Old English dohtig "competent, good, valiant," from dyhtig "strong," related to dugan "to be fit, be able, be strong," and influenced by its past participle, dohte.

All from Proto-Germanic *duhtiz- (cognates: Middle High German tühtec, German tüchtig, Middle Dutch duchtich), from PIE *dheugh- "to be fit, be of use, proper" (cognates: German Tugend "virtue," Greek teukhein "to make ready," Irish dual "becoming, fit," Russian dužij "strong, robust"). Rare after 17c.; in deliberately archaic or mock-heroic use since c. 1800. If it had survived, its modern form would be dighty.
felo-de-se (n.): in old law use, "one who commits the felony of suicide," whether deliberately or in maliciously attempting to kill another, Latin, literally "one guilty concerning himself." See felon.
fuzz (v.): 1702, "make fuzzy," from fuzz (n.). Related: Fuzzed; fuzzing. Fuzzword (based on buzzword) "deliberately confusing or imprecise bit of jargon" is a coinage in political writing from 1983.
gainer (n.): "one who gains or profits," 1530s, agent noun from gain (v.). As "one who (deliberately) gains weight" by 2000s.
give (v.): Old English giefan (West Saxon) "to give, bestow, deliver to another; allot, grant; commit, devote, entrust," class V strong verb (past tense geaf, past participle giefen), from Proto-Germanic *geban (cognates: Old Frisian jeva, Middle Dutch gheven, Dutch geven, Old High German geban, German geben, Gothic giban), from PIE *ghabh- "to take, hold, have, give" (see habit). It became yiven in Middle English, but changed to guttural "g" by influence of Old Norse gefa "to give," Old Danish givæ.

Meaning "to yield to pressure" is from 1570s. Give in "yield" is from 1610s; give out is mid-14c. as "publish, announce;" meaning "run out, break down" is from 1520s. Give up "surrender, resign, quit" is mid-12c. To give (someone) a cold seems to reflect the old belief that one could be cured of disease by deliberately infecting others. What gives? "what is happening?" is attested from 1940. To not give a (some thing regarded as trivial and valueless) is from c. 1300 (early examples were a straw, a grass, a mite).
kind (adj.): "friendly, deliberately doing good to others," from Old English gecynde "natural, native, innate," originally "with the feeling of relatives for each other," from Proto-Germanic *kundi- "natural, native," from *kunjam "family" (see kin), with collective prefix *ga- and abstract suffix *-iz. Sense development from "with natural feelings," to "well-disposed" (c. 1300), "benign, compassionate" (c. 1300).
main line (n.): "principal line of a railway," 1841; meaning "affluent area of residence" is by 1917, originally (with capitals) that of Philadelphia, from the "main line" of the Pennsylvania Railroad which added local stops to a string of backwater towns west of the city late 19c. that helped turn them into fashionable suburbs.
The Main Line, Philadelphia's most famous suburban district, was deliberately conceived in the 1870's and 1880's by the [Pennsylvania] Railroad, which built high-toned housing developments, ran hotels, more or less forced its executives to plunk their estates out there, and created a whole series of somewhat spurious Welsh towns along the railroad tracks. ... Now everybody assumes these all date from 1682, like the Robertses; but as Chestnut Hill people like to say, "nobody but Welsh peasants lived on the Main Line till the Railroad built it up." [Nathaniel Burt, "The Perennial Philadelphians," 1963]
The original station stops were, in order out from the city, Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Paoli. The train line for commuters along it is the Paoli Local.
riddle (n.1): "A word game or joke, comprising a question or statement couched in deliberately puzzling terms, propounded for solving by the hearer/reader using clues embedded within that wording" [Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore], early 13c., from Old English rædels "riddle; counsel; conjecture; imagination; discussion," common Germanic (Old Frisian riedsal "riddle," Old Saxon radisli, Middle Dutch raetsel, Dutch raadsel, Old High German radisle, German Rätsel "riddle").

The first element is from Proto-Germanic *redaz-, from PIE *re-dh-, from PIE *re(1)- "to reason, count" (cognates: Old English rædan "to advise, counsel, read, guess;" see read (v.)). The ending is Old English noun suffix -els, the -s of which later was mistaken for a plural affix and stripped off. Meaning "anything which puzzles or perplexes" is from late 14c.
sabotage (n.): 1907 (from 1903 as a French word in English), from French sabotage, from saboter "to sabotage, bungle," literally "walk noisily," from sabot "wooden shoe" (13c.), altered (by association with Old French bot "boot") from Middle French savate "old shoe," from an unidentified source that also produced similar words in Old Provençal, Portuguese, Spanish (zapata), Italian (ciabatta), Arabic (sabbat), and Basque (zapata).

In French, and at first in English, the sense of "deliberately and maliciously destroying property" originally was in reference to labor disputes, but the oft-repeated story (as old as the record of the word in English) that the modern meaning derives from strikers' supposed tactic of throwing shoes into machinery is not supported by the etymology. Likely it was not meant as a literal image; the word was used in French in a variety of "bungling" senses, such as "to play a piece of music badly." This, too, was the explanation given in some early usages.
SABOTAGE [chapter heading] The title we have prefixed seems to mean "scamping work." It is a device which, we are told, has been adopted by certain French workpeople as a substitute for striking. The workman, in other words, purposes to remain on and to do his work badly, so as to annoy his employer's customers and cause loss to his employer. ["The Liberty Review," January 1907]

You may believe that sabotage is murder, and so forth, but it is not so at all. Sabotage means giving back to the bosses what they give to us. Sabotage consists in going slow with the process of production when the bosses go slow with the same process in regard to wages. [Arturo M. Giovannitti, quoted in report of the Sagamore Sociological Conference, June 1907]

In English, "malicious mischief" would appear to be the nearest explicit definition of "sabotage," which is so much more expressive as to be likely of adoption into all languages spoken by nations suffering from this new force in industry and morals. Sabotage has a flavor which is unmistakable even to persons knowing little slang and no French .... ["Century Magazine," November 1910]
suicide (n.): "deliberate killing of oneself," 1650s, from Modern Latin suicidium "suicide," from Latin sui "of oneself" (genitive of se "self"), from PIE *s(u)w-o- "one's own," from root *s(w)e- (see idiom) + -cidium "a killing" (see -cide). Probably an English coinage; much maligned by Latin purists because it "may as well seem to participate of sus, a sow, as of the pronoun sui" [Phillips]. The meaning "person who kills himself deliberately" is from 1728. In Anglo-Latin, the term for "one who commits suicide" was felo-de-se, literally "one guilty concerning himself."
Even in 1749, in the full blaze of the philosophic movement, we find a suicide named Portier dragged through the streets of Paris with his face to the ground, hung from a gallows by his feet, and then thrown into the sewers; and the laws were not abrogated till the Revolution, which, having founded so many other forms of freedom, accorded the liberty of death. [W.E.H. Lecky, "History of European Morals," 1869]
In England, suicides were legally criminal if of age and sane, but not if judged to have been mentally deranged. The criminal ones were mutilated by stake and given degrading burial in highways until 1823. Suicide blonde (one who has "dyed by her own hand") first attested 1921. Baseball suicide squeeze is attested from 1937.
throw (v.): "to project, propel," c. 1300, from Old English þrawan "to twist, turn, writhe, curl," (past tense þreow, past participle þrawen), from Proto-Germanic *threw- (cognates: Old Saxon thraian, Middle Dutch dræyen, Dutch draaien, Old High German draen, German drehen "to turn, twist;" not found in Scandinavian or Gothic), from PIE *tere- (1) "to rub, turn, rub by turning, bore" (cognates: Sanskrit turah "wounded, hurt," Greek teirein "to rub, rub away," Latin terere "to rub, thresh, grind, wear away," Old Church Slavonic tiro "to rub," Lithuanian trinu "to rub," Old Irish tarathar "borer," Welsh taraw "to strike").

Not the usual Old English word for "to throw" (weorpan, related to warp (v.) was common in this sense). The sense evolution may be via the notion of whirling a missile before throwing it. The sense of "put by force" (as in throw in jail) is first recorded 1550s; that of "confuse, flabbergast" is from 1844; that of "lose deliberately" is from 1868.

To throw the book at (someone) is 1932, from notion of judge sentencing a criminal from a law book full of possible punishments. To throw (one's) hat in the ring "issue a challenge," especially to announce one's candidacy, first recorded 1917. To throw up "vomit" is first recorded 1732. To throw (someone) off "confuse by a false scent" is from 1891.
tongue-twister (n.): 1875, in reference to an awkward sentence, 1892 of a deliberately difficult-to-say phrase, from tongue (n.) + agent noun from twist (v.). The first one called by the name is "Miss Smith's fish-sauce shop."
vindictive (adj.): 1610s, "vengeful," from Latin vindicta "revenge" (see vindication) + -ive; or perhaps a shortening of vindicative based on the Latin word. From 1620s as "punitive, retributive," rather than personally vengeful or deliberately cruel. Related: Vindictively.
vomitorium (n.): 1754, "passage or opening in an ancient amphitheater, leading to or from the seats," from Latin (Macrobius, Sat., VI.iv), from vomitare (see vomit (n.)) + -orium (see -ory). Meaning "place where ancient Romans (allegedly) deliberately vomited during feasts" is attested by 1876.
willfully (adv.): also wilfully, late Old English wilfullice "of one's own free will, voluntarily;" see willful + -ly (2). Mid-14c. as "deliberately, knowingly." Bad sense of "on purpose" is attested from late 14c.
kidology: "The art or practice of deliberately deceiving or teasing people", 1960s: formed irregularly from the verb kid² + -logy.
non-sexist: "Not sexist, especially deliberately or self-consciously so; not discriminatory with respect to gender", 1970s; earliest use found in Vocal Majority. From non- + sexist.