英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

hack (n.2)[hack 词源字典]: "person hired to do routine work," c. 1700, ultimately short for hackney "an ordinary horse, horse for general service (especially for driving or riding, as opposed to war, hunting, or hauling)," c. 1300. This word is probably from the place name Hackney, Middlesex. Apparently nags were raised on the pastureland there in early medieval times. Extended sense of "horse for hire" (late 14c.) led naturally to "broken-down nag," and also "prostitute" (1570s) and "a drudge" (1540s), especially a literary one, one who writes according to direction or demand. Sense of "carriage for hire" (1704) led to modern slang for "taxicab." As an adjective, 1734, from the noun. Hack writer is first recorded 1826, though hackney writer is at least 50 years earlier. Hack-work is recorded from 1851.[hack etymology, hack origin, 英语词源]
Hamburg: German city, the -burg is German Burg "fort," in reference to the moated castle built there c. 825; the first element is perhaps Old High German hamma "ham, back of the knee" in a transferred sense of "bend, angle," with reference to its position on a river bend promontory; or Middle High German hamme "enclosed area of pastureland."
Matterhorn: Alpine mountain, from German Matte "meadow, pastureland" (see mead (n.2)) + Horn (see horn (n.)). So called for its horn-like shape.
prairie (n.): tract of level or undulating grassland in North America, by 1773, from French prairie "meadow, grassland," from Old French praerie "meadow, pastureland" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *prataria, from Latin pratum "meadow," originally "a hollow." The word existed in Middle English as prayere, but was lost and reborrowed to describe the American plains. Prairie dog is attested from 1774; prairie schooner "immigrant's wagon" is from 1841. Illinois has been the Prairie State since at least 1861. In Latin, Neptunia prata was poetic for "the sea."