demureyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[demure 词源字典]
demure: [14] Etymologically, someone who is demure is quiet and settled, not agitated. The word comes from demore, the past participle of Old French demorer ‘stay’ (source of English demur), and so semantically is a parallel formation to staid. One of its earliest recorded uses in English was actually to describe the sea as ‘calm’, and it was not until the late 17th century that its modern slightly pejorative connotations of coyness began to emerge.
=> demur[demure etymology, demure origin, 英语词源]
demure (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
late 14c. (early 14c. as a surname), from Old French meur "mature, fully grown, ripe," hence "discreet," from Latin maturus "mature" (see mature (v.)) [OED]. The de- in this word is of uncertain meaning. Or possibly from Anglo-French demuré (Old French demoré), past participle of demorer "stay," and influenced by meur [Barnhart]. Or from Old French de (bon) murs "of good manners," from murs (Modern French moeurs) [Klein].