英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

apse [apse 词源字典]: apse: [19] Apse ‘vaulted recess in a church’ is an anglicization of Latin apsis. This was a borrowing of Greek apsís or hapsís, which meant literally ‘a fastening together’ (it was derived from the verb háptein ‘join’). The notion that underlies its application to a vaulted space seems to be the joining together of arcs to form a circle; an early Greek use was as a ‘felloe’, part of the rim of a wheel, and this later came to mean, by extension, the wheel itself.

Further metaphoricization led to the sense ‘orbit’, and, more semicircularly, ‘arch’ or ‘vault’. The Latin/Greek form apsis itself was borrowed into English at the beginning of the 17th century, and remains in use as a technical term in astronomy, ‘extreme point of an orbit’.
[apse etymology, apse origin, 英语词源]
bitter: bitter: [OE] Old English biter appears to have come from *bit-, the short-vowel version of *bīt-, source of bite. Its original meaning would thus have been ‘biting’, and although there do not seem to be any traces of this left in the historical record, the sense development to ‘acrid-tasting’ is fairly straightforward (compare the similar case of sharp).

It seems likely that the bitter of ‘bitter end’ comes from a different source altogether, although in its current meaning it appears to have been influenced by the adjective bitter. A bitter was originally a ‘turn of a cable round the bitts’, and a bitt was a ‘post on the deck of a ship for fastening cables to’. It is not clear where bitt came from, although it was probably originally a seafarer’s term from the north German coast, and it may be related to English boat.

Thus in the first instance ‘to the bitter end’ probably meant ‘to the very end, as far as it is possible to go’.
=> bite
boat: boat: [OE] In origin, the word boat seems to be restricted to northern parts of Europe: Old English bāt and Old Norse beit are the only early examples (German boot was borrowed from them, and French bateau comes from the English word). They point to a common Germanic origin in *bait-. It has been speculated that this may be related to bitt ‘post for fastening ship’s cables’. If true, this could mean that boat originally referred to one or other of the structural members of a wooden vessel.
bolt: bolt: [OE] In Old English, a bolt was an arrow, particularly of the short stout variety used in crossbows (hence the phrase shoot one’s bolt). The more familiar modern sense ‘fastening pin’ developed in the 13th century. The verbal sense ‘make a quick escape’ comes from the notion of firing a projectile. The word appears in other Germanic languages (for instance German bolz ‘bolt’), but its ultimate origin is unknown.
buckle: buckle: [14] English acquired buckle via Old French boucla from Latin buccula ‘cheek strap of a helmet’. This was a diminutive form of Latin bucca ‘cheek’ (source of French bouche ‘mouth’), which gave English the anatomical term buccal ‘of the cheeks’ [19], and some have speculated is related to English pock. The notion of ‘fastening’ implicit in the Latin word carried through into English.

As well as ‘cheek strap’, Latin buccula meant ‘boss in the middle of a shield’. Old French boucle adopted this sense too, and created the derivative boucler, originally an adjective, meaning (of a shield) ‘having a central boss’. English borrowed this as buckler ‘small round shield’ [13]. The verb buckle was created from the English noun in the late 14th century, but the sense ‘distort’, which developed in the 16th century, comes from French boucler, which had come to mean ‘curl, bulge’.

Also from the French verb is bouclé ‘yarn with irregular loops’ [19].
=> bouclé, buckler
button: button: [14] Button comes via Old French bouton from Vulgar Latin *botōne, a word connected with the verb *hottāre ‘thrust’ (from which ultimately English gets butt ‘hit with the head’). The underlying notion contained in button is thus of something which pushes up, thrusts itself outwards, rather like a bud growing on a plant; the fact that the resulting round knob is used for fastening is, from the point of view of the word’s semantic history, secondary. (Inconclusive attempts have in fact been made to link bud with Old French boter, a descendant of Vulgar Latin *bottāre, and from the 15th century the word button has been applied in English to ‘buds’.)
=> butt
clam: clam: [OE] Old English clam meant ‘something for tying up or fastening, fetter’; it can be traced back to a prehistoric Germanic base *klam-, which also produced clamp [14] and is related to climb. There is a gap in the word’s history in early Middle English times, but it reappears at the end of the 14th century in the sense ‘clamp’, and in the 16th century it was applied, originally in Scotland, to the mollusc which now bears the name, apparently on the grounds that its two shells close like the jaws of a clamp or vice.
=> clamp, climb
climb: climb: [OE] The original notion contained in climb seems not to have been so much ‘ascent’ as ‘holding on’. Old English climban came from a prehistoric West Germanic *klimban, a nasalized variant of the base which produced English cleave ‘adhere’. To begin with this must have meant strictly ‘go up by clinging on with the hands and feet’ – to ‘swarm up’, in fact – but already by the late Old English period we find it being used for ‘rising’ in general. The original past tense clamb, which died out in most areas in the 16th century, is probably related to clamp ‘fastening’ [14].
=> clamp, cleave
lace: lace: [13] Lace originally meant ‘noose’ or ‘snare’, and its underlying semantic connections are not with ‘string’ or ‘thread’ but with ‘entrapment’ or ‘enticement’. Its ultimate source was Latin laqueus ‘noose’, which was related to the verb lacere ‘lure, deceive’ (source of English delicious and elicit). This passed into Vulgar Latin as *lacium, which in due course diversified into Italian laccio, Spanish lazo (source of English lasso [19]), and French lacs.

It was the latter’s Old French predecessor, laz or las, that gave English lace. The sense ‘noose’ had died out by the early 17th century, but by then it had already developed via ‘string, cord’ to ‘cord used for fastening clothes’. ‘Open fabric made of threads’ emerged in the mid-16th century. Latch [14] is thought to be distantly related.
=> delicious, elicit, lasso, latch
lock: lock: [OE] English has two words lock. The one meaning ‘fastening mechanism’ goes back ultimately to a prehistoric Germanic *luk-or *lūk-, denoting ‘close’, which also produced German loch ‘hole’ and Swedish lock ‘lid’. Closely related are locker [15], etymologically a ‘box with a lock’, and locket [14], which was acquired from Old French locquet, a diminutive form of loc (which itself was a borrowing from Germanic *luk-). Lock ‘piece of hair’ goes back to a prehistoric Indo-European *lug-, which denoted ‘bending’. Its Germanic relatives include German locke, Dutch and Danish lok, and Swedish lock.
nail: nail: [OE] The Indo-European ancestor of nail was *nogh- or *onogh-. The latter was the source of Latin unguis (which evolved into French ongle and Italian unghia and has given English ungulate [19]) and Greek ónux (source of English onyx). Both these strands refer only to the sort of nails that grow on fingers and toes, but the Germanic branch of the family (which has come from *nogh- through a prehistoric Germanic *naglaz) has differentiated into a ‘fastening pin’ – originally of wood, latterly of metal.

Hence English nail and German nagel cover both meanings (although Dutch and Swedish nagel and Danish negl are used only for the anatomical ‘nail’).
=> onyx, ungulate
page: page: English has two nouns page. The one that now denotes ‘boy servant’ originally meant simply ‘boy’ [13]. It was borrowed from Old French page, itself an adaptation of Italian paggio. This is generally assumed to have come from Greek paidíon, a diminutive form of pais ‘boy, child’ (source of English encyclopedia, paediatric [19], paedophilia [20], pedagogue [14], pederast [18], etc). Page of a book [15] depends ultimately on the notion of ‘fastening’.

It comes via Old French page from Latin pāgina, a derivative of the base *pāg- ‘fix’ (source also of English pagan, pale ‘stake’, etc). This was used for ‘vine-stakes fastened together into a trellis’, which perhaps inspired its metaphorical application to a ‘column of writing’ in a scroll. When books replaced scrolls, pāgina was transferred to ‘page’.
=> encyclopedia, paediatric, pedagogue; pagan, pale, pole
peace: peace: [12] The etymological notion underlying peace is of ‘fastening’, so as to achieve a ‘stable’ condition. The word comes via Anglo-Norman pes from Latin pāx ‘peace’, which was derived from the same base, *pāk- ‘fasten’, as lies behind English pact, and is closely related to pagan, page, pale ‘stake’, and pole ‘stick’. Derivatives of Latin pāx or its Old French descendant to reach English include appease [16], pacific [16], pacify [15], and pay.
=> appease, pacific, pact, pagan, pale, pay, pole
sign: sign: [13] Sign comes via Old French signe from Latin signum ‘mark’. It already had the meaning ‘mark denoting something’ in Latin, and it was in this sense that it entered English, gradually ousting the native word token. The verb sign goes back ultimately to the Latin derivative signāre ‘mark’. English acquired it in the 14th century, and first used it for ‘write one’s name’ in the 15th century.

Other related forms in English include assign [14], consign [15], design, ensign [14], insignia [17], resign [14] (in which the prefix re- has the force of ‘un-’), seal ‘wax impression, fastening’, signal, signatory [17], signature [16], signet [14], significant [16], and signify [13].

The ultimate source of Latin signum is uncertain. It was once assumed to go back to the Indo-European base *sek- ‘cut’ (source of English saw, section, etc), as if it denoted etymologically a ‘cut mark’, but now Indo-European *seq- ‘point out’, hence ‘say, tell’ (source of English say) is viewed as a more likely ancestor.
=> assign, consign, design, ensign, insignia, resign, seal, signal, signature, significant
tack: tack: English has three distinct words tack. The oldest, meaning ‘nail or other fastening’ [14], comes from Old Northern French taque, a variant of Old French tache ‘nail, fastening’. This was borrowed from prehistoric Germanic, but the nature of its connection with attach, if any, is not known. In the 15th century it was applied to the ‘ropes, cables, etc fastening a ship’s sails’, and the adjustment of these fastenings when changing direction led to the use of tack as a verb meaning ‘change direction in a boat’. Tacky ‘sticky’, derived from tack in the 18th century, also depends on the general notion of ‘fastening’ (the origins of the other tacky, ‘shoddy, tasteless’ [19], are not known). Tack ‘horse’s harness and other equipment’ [20] is short for tackle [13].

This was probably borrowed from Middle Low German takel, a derivative of taken ‘seize’ (to which English take is related). The origins of tack ‘food’ [19] (as in hard tack) are not known.
=> tackle
apse (n.): "semicircular extension at the end of a church," 1846, from Latin apsis "an arch, a vault," from Greek hapsis (Ionic apsis) "loop, arch," originally "a fastening, felloe of a wheel," from haptein "fasten together," which is of unknown origin. The original sense in Greek seems to have been the joining of the arcs to form a circle, especially in making a wheel. The architectural term is earlier attested in English in the Latin form (1706).
barring (n.): late 14c., "act of fastening with a bar," verbal noun from bar (v.). Meaning "exclusion" is from 1630s. As a preposition, "excepting, excluding," it is from late 15c. Schoolhouse prank of barring out the teacher was in use before 1728.
brace (n.): early 14c., "piece of armor for the arms," also "thong, strap for fastening," from Old French brace, braz "arms," also "length measured by two arms" (12c., Modern French bras "arm, power;" brasse "fathom, armful, breaststroke"), from Latin bracchia, plural of bracchium "an arm, a forearm," from Greek brakhion "an arm" (see brachio-). Applied to various devices for fastening and tightening on notion of clasping arms. Of dogs, "a couple, a pair" from c. 1400.
clamp (n.): device for fastening, c. 1300, probably from clamb, perhaps originally past tense of climb (v.), or from Middle Dutch clampe (Dutch klamp), from West Germanic *klamp- "clamp, cleat;" cognate with Middle Low German klampe "clasp, hook," Old High German klampfer "clip, clamp;" also probably related to Middle Dutch klamme "a clamp, hook, grapple," Danish klamme "a clamp, cramp," Old English clamm "fetter;" see clam (n.).
clinch (n.): 1620s, "method of fastening," from clinch (v.). Meaning "a fastening by bent nail" is from 1650s. In pugilism, from 1875.
clog (v.): late 14c., "hinder," originally by fastening a block of wood to something, from clog (n.). Meaning "choke up with extraneous matter" is 17c. Related: Clogged; clogging.
closure (n.): late 14c., "a barrier, a fence," from Old French closure "enclosure; that which encloses, fastening, hedge, wall, fence," also closture "barrier, division; enclosure, hedge, fence, wall" (12c., Modern French clôture), from Late Latin clausura "lock, fortress, a closing" (source of Italian chiusura), from past participle stem of Latin claudere "to close" (see close (v.)). Sense of "act of closing, bringing to a close" is from early 15c. In legislation, especially "closing or stopping of debate." Sense of "tendency to create ordered and satisfying wholes" is 1924, from Gestalt psychology.
crampon (n.): "metal bar bent at the ends for fastening," c. 1300, from Old French crampoun, from Germanic (see cramp (n.1); also compare cramp (n.2)).
desmo-: before vowels desm-, word-forming element used in scientific compounds, from Greek desmos "bond, fastening, chain," from PIE root *de- "to bind."
eye (n.): c. 1200, from Old English ege (Mercian), eage (West Saxon) "eye; region around the eye; apperture, hole," from Proto-Germanic *augon (cognates: Old Saxon aga, Old Frisian age, Old Norse auga, Swedish öga, Danish øie, Middle Dutch oghe, Dutch oog, Old High German ouga, German Auge, Gothic augo "eye").

Apparently the Germanic form evolved irregularly from PIE *okw- "to see" (cognates: Sanskrit akshi "the eye; the number two," Greek opsis "a sight," Old Church Slavonic oko, Lithuanian akis, Latin oculus, Greek okkos, Tocharian ak, ek, Armenian akn).
HAMLET: My father -- methinks I see my father.
HORATIO: Where, my lord?
HAMLET: In my mind's eye, Horatio.
Until late 14c. the English plural was in -an, hence modern dialectal plural een, ene. Of potatoes from 1670s. Of peacock feathers from late 14c. As a loop used with a hook in fastening (clothes, etc.) from 1590s. The eye of a needle was in Old English. As "the center of revolution" of anything from 1760. Nautical in the wind's eye "in the direction of the wind" is from 1560s.

To see eye to eye is from Isa. lii:8. Eye contact attested from 1953. To have (or keep) an eye on "keep under supervision" is attested from early 15c. To have eyes for "be interested in or attracted to" is from 1736; make eyes at in the romance sense is from 1837; gleam in (someone's) eye (n.) "barely formed idea" is from 1959. Eye-biter was an old name for "a sort of witch who bewitches with the eyes."
fasten (v.): Old English fæstnian "make fast, make firm, fix, secure," also "ratify, betroth, confirm," from Proto-Germanic *fastinon "to make firm or fast" (cognates: Old Frisian festnia "to make firm, bind fast," Old Saxon fastnon, Old High German fastnion, German festnen, Old Norse fastna "to pledge, betroth"), from PIE *fast "solid, firm" (see fast (adj.)). Related: Fastened; fastening.
frog (n.2): type of fastening for clothing, 1719, originally a belt loop for carrying a weapon, of unknown origin; perhaps from Portuguese froco, from Latin floccus "flock of wool."
garter (n.): "tie or fastening to keep a stocking in place on the leg," early 14c., from Old North French gartier "band just above or below the knee" (Old French jartier, 14c., Modern French jarretière), from garet/jaret "bend of the knee," perhaps from Gaulish (compare Welsh garr "leg"). Garter in reference to the highest order of knighthood (mid-14c.) is from the Order of the Garter, the earliest records of which are entirely lost, but which according to Froissart was established c. 1344 by Edward III, though the usual story of how it came about is late (1614) and perhaps apocryphal. Garter-snake (1775, U.S.) so called from resemblance to a ribbon. Garter belt attested by 1913.
grapple (n.): "iron hook for fastening one thing to another," late 13c., from Old French grapil "hook" (see grapnel).
hake (n.): type of sea fish, late 13c., probably from Old English haca "a hook, door-fastening" (related to hacod "pike" the fish), or from cognate Old Norse haki "hook;" in either case the fish so called from the shape of its jaw; both from Proto-Germanic *hakan (cognate with Dutch hake "hook"), from PIE root *keg- "hook, tooth" (see hook (n.)).
harmony (n.): late 14c., "combination of tones pleasing to the ear," from Old French harmonie, armonie "harmony," also the name of a musical instrument (12c.), from Latin harmonia, from Greek harmonia "agreement, concord of sounds," also as a proper name, the personification of music, literally "means of joining," used of ship-planks, etc., also "settled government, order," related to harmos "fastenings of a door; shoulder," from PIE *ar-ti-, from *ar- "to fit together" (see arm (n.1)). Modern scientific harmony, using combinations of notes to form chords, is from 16c. Sense of "agreement of feeling, concord" is from late 14c.
harpoon (n.): 1610s, from French harpon, from Old French harpon "cramp iron, clamp, clasp" (described as a mason's tool for fastening stones together), from harper "to grapple, grasp," which is of uncertain origin. It is possibly of Germanic origin; or the French word might be from Latin harpa "hook" (related to harpagonem "grappling hook"), from Greek harpe "sickle," from PIE root *serp- (1) "sickle, hook." Earlier word for it was harping-iron (mid-15c.). Sense and spelling perhaps influenced by Dutch (compare Middle Dutch harpoen) or Basque, the language of the first European whaling peoples, who often accompanied English sailors on their early expeditions. Also see -oon.
hasp (n.): Old English hæpse "fastening, clip," with later Old English metathesis of -p- and -s-. Related to Old Norse hespa "hasp, fastening," Middle Dutch, German haspe "clamp, hinge, hook," but all are of uncertain origin. The meaning "a quantity of yarn" is from c. 1400 but perhaps not the same word.
lanyard (n.): also laniard, alternative spelling (influenced by nautical yard (2) "long beam used to support a sail") of Middle English lainer, "thong for fastening parts of armor or clothing" (late 14c.), from Old French laniere "thong, lash," from lasniere, from lasne "strap, thong," apparently altered (by metathesis and influence of Old French las "lace") from nasliere, from Frankish *nastila or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *nastila- (cognates: Old High German, Old Saxon nestila "lace, strap, band," German nestel "string, lace, strap"), from PIE root *ned- "to knot."
latch (n.): a fastening for a door, etc., late 13c., probably from latch (v.).
lock (n.1): "means of fastening," Old English loc "bolt, fastening; barrier, enclosure," from Proto-Germanic *lukan (cognates: Old Norse lok "fastening, lock," Gothic usluks "opening," Old High German loh "dungeon," German Loch "opening, hole," Dutch luik "shutter, trapdoor"). "The great diversity of meaning in the Teut. words seems to indicate two or more independent but formally identical substantival formations from the root."

The Old English sense "barrier, enclosure" led to the specific meaning "barrier on a river" (c. 1300), and the more specific sense "gate and sluice system on a water channel used as a means of raising and lowering boats" (1570s). Wrestling sense is from c. 1600. Phrase under lock and key attested from early 14c.
locket (n.): mid-14c., "iron cross-bar of a window," from Old French loquet "door-handle, bolt, latch," diminutive of loc "lock, latch," from Frankish or some other Germanic source (compare Old Norse lok "fastening, lock;" see lock (n.1)). Meaning "ornamental case with hinged cover" (containing a lock of hair, miniature portrait, etc.) first recorded 1670s.
point (v.): late 14c., "indicate with the finger;" c. 1400, "wound by stabbing; make pauses in reading a text; seal or fill openings or joints or between tiles," partly from Old French pointoier "to prick, stab, jab, mark," and also from point (n.).

Mid-15c. as "to stitch, mend." From late 15c. as "stitch, mend;" also "furnish (a garment) with tags or laces for fastening;" from late 15c. as "aim (something)." Related: Pointed; pointing. To point up "emphasize" is from 1934; to point out is from 1570s.
scarf (n.2): "connecting joint," late 13c., probably from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse skarfr "nail for fastening a joint," Swedish skarf, Norwegian skarv). A general North Sea Germanic ship-building word (compare Dutch scherf), the exact relationship of all these is unclear. Also borrowed into Romanic (French écart, Spanish escarba); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skarfaz (cognates: Old English sceorfan "to gnaw, bite"), from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)). Also used as a verb.
solution (n.): late 14c., "a solving or being solved," from Old French solucion "division, dissolving; explanation; payment" or directly from Latin solutionem (nominative solutio) "a loosening or unfastening," noun of action from past participle stem of solvere "to loosen, untie, solve, dissolve" (see solve). Meaning "liquid containing a dissolved substance" is first recorded 1590s.
tassel (n.): c. 1300, "mantle fastener," from Old French tassel "tassel, fringe, hem; a fastening, clasp" (12c., Modern French tasseau), from Vulgar Latin *tassellus, said to be from Latin taxillus "small die or cube," a diminutive of talus "knucklebone (used as a die in gaming), ankle" (see talus (n.1)). But OED finds this doubtful and calls attention to the variant form tossel and suggests association with toss (v.). Meaning "hanging bunch of small cords" is first recorded late 14c.
tether (n.): late 14c., "rope for fastening an animal," not found in Old English, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse tjoðr "tether," from Proto-Germanic *teudran (cognates: Danish tøir, Old Swedish tiuther, Swedish tjuder, Old Frisian tiader, Middle Dutch tuder, Dutch tuier "line, rope," Old High German zeotar "pole of a cart"), from PIE root *deu- "to fasten" + instrumentive suffix *-tro-. Figurative sense of "measure of one's limitations" is attested from 1570s.
turnbuckle (n.): also turn-buckle, 1703, "catch or fastening for windows and shutters," from turn (v.) + buckle (n.). Meaning "coupling with internal screw threads for connecting metal rods" is attested from 1877.
unfasten (v.): early 13c., from un- (2) "opposite of" + fasten. Old English had unfæstnian "to unfasten." Related: Unfastened; unfastening.
vise (n.): early 14c., "a winch, crane," from Anglo-French vice, Old French vis, viz "screw," from Latin vitis "vine, tendril of a vine," literally "that which winds," from root of viere "to bind, twist" (see withy). Also in Middle English, "device like a screw or winch for bending a crossbow or catapult; spiral staircase; the screw of a press; twisted tie for fastening a hood under the chin." The modern meaning "clamping tool with two jaws closed by a screw" is first recorded c. 1500.
yoke (n.): Old English geoc "contrivance for fastening a pair of draft animals," earlier geoht "pair of draft animals" (especially oxen), from Proto-Germanic *yukam (cognates: Old Saxon juk, Old Norse ok, Danish aag, Middle Dutch joc, Dutch juk, Old High German joh, German joch, Gothic juk "yoke"), from PIE root *yeug- "to join" (see jugular). Figurative sense of "heavy burden, oppression, servitude" was in Old English.
affixion: "The action of affixing, attaching, or fastening something; the state of being affixed; specifically crucifixion", Late Middle English; earliest use found in Mirour of Mans Saluacioune. From post-classical Latin affīxion-, affīxio action of affixing, especially with reference to the crucifixion, action of affixing a poster from classical Latin affīx-, past participial stem of affīgere + -iō.
latchet: "A narrow thong or lace for fastening a shoe or sandal", Late Middle English: from Old French lachet, variant of lacet, from laz 'lace'.