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dapper [dapper 词源字典]: dapper: [15] Modern English dapper connotes neatness, alertness, and liveliness, but its etymological significance as revealed by distant relatives such as Old High German tapfar ‘heavy’, Old Prussian debīkan ‘large’, and Old Slavic debelu ‘thick’, is ‘heavy’. The notion of ‘weightiness’ spread to ‘firmness, endurance in battle’, and hence ‘courage’ (German tapfer and Dutch dapper both mean ‘brave’). English acquired the word, with an apparently ironical change of meaning, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German dapper ‘heavy, stout, bold’.
[dapper etymology, dapper origin, 英语词源]
limp: limp: English has two words limp, which perhaps share a common ancestry. Neither is particularly old. The verb first crops up in the 16th century (until then the word for ‘walk lamely’ had been halt, which now survives, barely, as an adjective). It was probably adapted from the now obsolete adjective limphalt ‘lame’, a descendant of Old English lemphealt (which goes back ultimately to Indo-European *lomb-). The adjective limp is first recorded in the 18th century, and in view of the common meaning element ‘lack of firmness, infirmity’ it seems likely that it is related to the verb.
true: true: [OE] The underlying etymological meaning of true is ‘faithful, steadfast, firm’; ‘in accordance with the facts’ is a secondary development. It goes back to the prehistoric Germanic base *treww-, which also produced German treue and Dutch trouw ‘faithful’ and the English noun truce, and it has been speculated that it may ultimately have links with the Indo- European base *dru- ‘wood, tree’ (source of English tree), the semantic link being the firmness or steadfastness of oaks and suchlike trees. Truth [OE] comes from the same source, as do its derivative betroth [14], its now archaic variant troth [16], the equally dated trow [OE], and probably also trust and tryst.
=> betroth, troth, trow, truce, trust, truth, tryst
trust: trust: [13] Trust was probably borrowed from Old Norse traust ‘help, confidence, firmness’. This, together with its modern German and Dutch relatives trost and troost ‘consolation’, goes back to the same prehistoric Germanic base as produced English true and truth. Tryst [14] is probably closely related. It was borrowed from Old French triste ‘appointed place for positioning oneself during a hunt’, which itself was very likely acquired from a Scandinavian source connected with traust.
=> true
consistence (n.): c. 1600, "state of standing still; firmness," from Middle French consistence (Modern French consistance) "a standing fast," from Medieval Latin consistentia, from Latin consistentem (nominative consistens), present participle of consistere (see consist). Meaning "coherence, solidity" is recorded from 1620s.
consistency (n.): 1590s, "firmness of matter," from Medieval Latin consistentia or directly from Latin consistentem, from consistere (see consist). Meaning "state of being in agreement or harmony" (with something) is from 1650s; meaning "self-consistent" is from 1716.
earnest (adj.1): from Old English eornoste (adj.) "zealous, serious," or from Old English noun eornost "seriousness, serious intent" (surviving only in the phrase in earnest), from Proto-Germanic *er-n-os-ti- (cognates: Old Saxon ernust, Old Frisian ernst, Old High German arnust "seriousness, firmness, struggle," German Ernst "seriousness;" Gothic arniba "safely, securely;" Old Norse ern "able, vigorous," jarna "fight, combat"), perhaps from PIE root *er- (1) "to move, set in motion." The proper name Ernest (literally "resolute") is from the same root. Related: Earnestness.
fastness (n.): "a place not easily forced, a stronghold," late Old English fæstnes "firmness, strongness, massiveness, stability; the firmament," from fast (adj.) in its older sense of "firm, fixed in place" + -ness.
firm (adj.): late 14c., ferm, "strong, steady" (of things), "permanent, enduring" (of agreements), "steadfast, steady" (of persons), "sound, well-founded" (of arguments), from Old French ferm "strong, vigorous; healthy, sound; steadfast, loyal, faithful" (12c.), from Latin firmus "strong, steadfast, enduring, stable," figuratively "constant, steadfast, trusty, faithful," from PIE root *dher- (2) "to hold, support" (cognates: Sanskrit dharmah "custom, law," Greek thronos "seat," Lithuanian dirzmas "strong," Welsh dir "hard," Breton dir "steel"). The spelling return to -i- in late 1500s was modeled on Latin. Related: Firmly; firmness.
fortitude (n.): early 15c., from Middle French fortitude, from Latin fortitudo "strength, force, firmness, manliness," from fortis "strong, brave" (see fort).
fortitudinous (adj.): "capable of endurance," 1752, from Latin fortitudinem (nominative fortitudo) "strength, firmness" (see fortitude) + -ous. Related: Fortitudinously.
grit (n.): Old English greot "sand, dust, earth, gravel," from Proto-Germanic *greutan "tiny particles of crushed rock" (cognates: Old Saxon griot, Old Frisian gret, Old Norse grjot "rock, stone," German Grieß "grit, sand"), from PIE *ghreu- "rub, grind" (cognates: Lithuanian grudas "corn, kernel," Old Church Slavonic gruda "clod"). Sense of "pluck, spirit, firmness of mind" first recorded American English, 1808.
If he hadn't a had the clear grit in him, and showed teeth and claws, they'd a nullified him so, you wouldn't have see'd a grease spot of him no more. [Thomas Chandler Haliburton, "Sam Slick in England," 1843]
resolve (n.): "determination, firmness or fixedness of purpose; a determination," 1590s, from resolve (v.).
rigor (n.): late 14c., from Old French rigor "strength, hardness" (13c., Modern French rigueur), from Latin rigorem (nominative rigor) "numbness, stiffness, hardness, firmness; roughness, rudeness," from rigere "be stiff" (see rigid).
stability (n.): mid-14c., "firmness of resolve, mental equilibrium" (of persons), from Old French stablete, establete "firmness, solidity, stability; durability, constancy" (Modern French stabilité), from Latin stabilitatem (nominative stabilitas) "a standing fast, firmness," figuratively "security, steadfastness," from stabilis "steadfast, firm" (see stable (adj.)). In physical sense, "state of being difficult to overthrow, power of remaining upright," it is recorded from early 15c. Meaning "continuance in the same state" is from 1540s.
stead (n.): Old English stede "place, position; standing, firmness, stability, fixity," from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (cognates: Old Saxon stedi, Old Norse staðr "place, spot; stop, pause; town," Swedish stad, Dutch stede "place," Old High German stat, German Stadt "town," Gothic staþs "place"), from PIE *steti-, suffixed form of root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Related to stand.

Now chiefly in compounds or phrases. Meaning "assistance, use, benefit, advantage" is from c. 1300. Meaning "frame on which a bed is laid" is from c. 1400. The German use of Stadt for "town, city" "is a late development from c. 1200 when the term began to replace Burg" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]. The Steads was 16c. English for "the Hanseatic cities."
strength (n.): Old English strengþu, strengð "bodily power, force, vigor, firmness, fortitude, manhood, violence, moral resistance," from Proto-Germanic *strangitho (cognates: Old High German strengida "strength"), from PIE *strenk- "tight, narrow" (see string (n.)), with Proto-Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)). Compare length/long. From the same root as strong,
tone (n.): mid-14c., "musical sound or note," from Old French ton "musical sound, speech, words" (13c.) and directly from Latin tonus "a sound, tone, accent," literally "stretching" (in Medieval Latin, a term peculiar to music), from Greek tonos "vocal pitch, raising of voice, accent, key in music," originally "a stretching, tightening, taut string," related to teinein "to stretch" (see tenet). Sense of "manner of speaking" is from c. 1600. First reference to firmness of body is from 1660s. As "prevailing state of manners" from 1735; as "style in speaking or writing which reveals attitude" from 1765. Tone-deaf is from 1880; tone-poem from 1845.
tonic (adj.): 1640s, "relating to or characterized by muscular tension," from Greek tonikos "of stretching," from tonos "a stretching" (see tenet). The meaning "maintaining the healthy firmness of tissues" is recorded from 1680s, first extended 1756 to "having the property of restoring to health." Related: Tonical (1580s).