英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

flute [flute 词源字典]: flute: [14] Provençal flaut was probably the original source of flute, and it reached English via Old French floute or floite. Where flaut came from, however, is another matter, and a much disputed one. Some etymologists claim that it is ultimately simply an imitation of a high-pitched sound, its initial consonant cluster perhaps provided by Provençal flajol ‘small flute or whistle’ (source of English flageolet [17], but itself of unknown origin) and Latin flāre ‘blow’; others suggest a specific blend of flajol with Provençal laut, source of English lute.

The sense ‘groove’ developed in English in the 17th century, from a comparison with the long thin shape of the instrument. Related forms in English include flautist [19], whose immediate source, Italian flautisto, preserves the au diphthong of the Provençal source word flaut (American English prefers the older, native English formation flutist [17]); and perhaps flout [16], which may come from Dutch fluiten ‘play the flute’, hence ‘whistle at, mock’.
=> flout[flute etymology, flute origin, 英语词源]
clarion (n.): "small, high-pitched type of trumpet," early 14c., from Old French clarion "(high-pitched) trumpet, bugle" and directly from Medieval Latin clarionem (nominative clario) "a trumpet," from Latin clarus "clear" (see clear (adj.)). Clarion call is attested from 1838.
flat (adj.): c. 1300, "stretched out (on a surface), prostrate, lying the whole length on the ground;" mid-14c., "level, all in one plane; even, smooth;" of a roof, "low-pitched," from Old Norse flatr "flat," from Proto-Germanic *flata- (cognates: Old Saxon flat "flat, shallow," Old High German flaz "flat, level," Old English flet (for which see flat (n.)), Old High German flezzi "floor"), from PIE *plat- "to spread" (source of Greek platys "broad, flat;" see plaice (n.)). From c. 1400 as "without curvature or projection."

Sense of "prosaic, dull" is from 1570s, on the notion of "featureless, lacking contrast." Used of drink from c. 1600; of musical notes from 1590s, because the tone is "lower" than a given or intended pitch; of women's bosoms by 1864. Flat tire or flat tyre is from 1908. Flat-screen (adj.) in reference to television is from 1969 as a potential technology. Flat-earth (adj.) in reference to refusal to accept evidence of a global earth, is from 1876.
gable (n.): "end of a ridged roof cut off in a vertical plane, together with the wall from the level of the eaves to the apex," mid-14c., "a gable of a building; a facade," from Old French gable "facade, front, gable," from Old Norse gafl "gable, gable-end" (in north of England, the word probably is directly from Norse), according to Watkins, probably from Proto-Germanic *gablaz "top of a pitched roof" (cognates: Middle Dutch ghevel, Dutch gevel, Old High German gibil, German Giebel, Gothic gibla "gable"). This is traced to a PIE *ghebh-el- "head," which seems to have yielded words meaning both "fork" (such as Old English gafol, geafel, Old Saxon gafala, Dutch gaffel, Old High German gabala "pitchfork," German Gabel "fork;" Old Irish gabul "forked twig") and "head" (such as Old High German gibilla, Old Saxon gibillia "skull").
Possibly the primitive meaning of the words may have been 'top', 'vertex'; this may have given rise to the sense of 'gable', and this latter to the sense of 'fork', a gable being originally formed by two pieces of timber crossed at the top supporting the end of the roof-tree." [OED]
Related: Gabled; gables; gable-end.
hautboy (n.): "oboe, double-reeded woodwind instrument," 1570s, from French hautbois "high wood" (15c.; see oboe, which is the Italian phonetic spelling of the French word). The haut is used here in its secondary sense of "high-pitched." In early use frequently nativized as hoboy, hawboy, etc.
This Pageaunt waz clozd vp with a delectable harmony of Hautboiz, Shalmz, Coronets, and such oother looud muzik. [Robert Laneham, 1575]
oboe (n.): 1724, from Italian oboe, from phonetic spelling of Middle French hautbois (itself borrowed in English 16c. as hautboy), from haut "high, loud, high-pitched" (see haught) + bois "wood" (see bush (n.)). So called because it had the highest register among woodwind instruments. Related: Oboist.
ping (n.): 1835, imitative of the sound of a bullet striking something sharply. Meaning "short, high-pitched electronic pulse" is attested from 1943. As a verb from 1855; in computer sense is from at least 1981. Related: Pinged; pinging.
pitch (v.1): c. 1200, "to thrust in, fasten, settle," probably from an unrecorded Old English *piccean, related to prick (v.). The original past tense was pight. Sense of "set upright," as in pitch a tent (late 13c.), is from notion of "driving in" the pegs. Meaning to incline forward and downward" is from 1510s. Meaning "throw (a ball)" evolved late 14c. from that of "hit the mark." Musical sense is from 1670s. Of ships, "to plunge" in the waves, 1620s. To pitch in "work vigorously" is from 1847, perhaps from farm labor. Related: Pitched; pitching.
pitch (n.1): 1520s, "something that is pitched," from pitch (v.1). Meaning "act of throwing" is attested from 1833. Meaning "act of plunging headfirst" is from 1762; sense of "slope, degree, inclination" is from 1540s; musical sense is from 1590s; but the connection of these is obscure. Sales pitch in the modern commercial advertising sense is from 1943, American English, perhaps from the baseball sense.
shrill (adj.): late 14c., schrylle "high-pitched, piercing" (of the voice), probably related to Old English scralletan "to sound loudly" and of imitative origin (compare Low German schrell, German schrill "piercing, shrill"). Related: Shrillness; shrilly (adv.).
tuba (n.): 1852 in reference to a modern, large, low-pitched brass musical instrument, from French tuba, from Latin tuba (plural tubae) "straight bronze war trumpet" (as opposed to the crooked bucina), related to tubus (see tube (n.)).
zing (n.): 1911, "high pitched sound," of echoic origin. Slang meaning "energy, zest" is attested from 1918. Verb is from 1920; meaning "to deliver a stinging witticism or retort" is by 1975.
contrabass: "another term for double bass", Late 18th century: from Italian contrabasso, from contra- 'pitched an octave below' + basso (see bass¹).
ching: "An abrupt high-pitched ringing sound, typically one made by a cash register", Imitative.
bourdon: "A low-pitched stop in an organ or harmonium, typically a stopped diapason of 16-foot pitch", Middle English (in the sense 'drone of a bagpipe'): from Old French, 'drone', of imitative origin.
presbycusis: "Deterioration of hearing commonly occurring with advancing age, usually affecting both ears and beginning with reduced sensitivity to higher-pitched sounds", Late 19th cent.; earliest use found in John S. Billings (1838–1913). From presby- + ancient Greek ἄκουσις hearing. The some forms show an alteration with suffix substitution: compare -ia.