quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- galaxy[galaxy 词源字典]
- galaxy: [14] The Greeks had a word for the ‘Milky Way’ – and indeed it was very much the same as ours. They called it galaxías, which was originally an adjective, ‘milky’, derived from the noun gála ‘milk’. English acquired it via late Latin galaxiās and Old French galuxie. (The term Milky Way, incidentally, which originated as a translation of Latin via lactea, is of roughly equal antiquity in English with galaxy. Their common inspiration is the white appearance of the myriad stars packed densely together.)
[galaxy etymology, galaxy origin, 英语词源] - orang-utan
- orang-utan: [17] Malay ōrang ūtan means literally ‘wild man’. It probably originated as a term used by those who lived in open, more densely populated areas for the ‘uncivilized’ tribes who lived in the forest, but was taken by early European travellers to refer to the large red-haired ape that inhabits the same forests. The word may well have reached English via Dutch.
- Barbados
- probably from Portuguese las barbados "the bearded;" the island so called because vines or moss hung densely from the trees. An inhabitant was called a Barbadian (1732).
- Black Hills
- South Dakota landform, translating Lakhota pahá-sapa; supposedly so called because their densely forested flanks look dark from a distance.
- warren (n.)
- late 14c., "piece of land enclosed for breeding beasts and fowls," from Anglo-French and Old North French warenne (Old French garenne) "game park, hunting reserve," possibly from Gaulish *varenna "enclosed area," related to *varros "post." More likely from the present participle of Old North French warir (Old French garir) "defend, keep," from Proto-Germanic *war- "to protect, guard" (see warrant (n.)). Later especially "piece of land for breeding of rabbits" (c. 1400), which led to the transferred sense of "cluster of densely populated living spaces" (1640s).