quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- slow[slow 词源字典]
- slow: [OE] The etymological notion underlying slow is ‘dullness, sluggishness’; ‘lack of speed’ is a secondary development. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *slæwaz, which also produced Swedish slö and Danish sløv ‘dull, blunt’. The original idea of ‘sluggishness’ is better preserved in the derivative sloth [12] (etymologically ‘slow-ness’).
=> sloth[slow etymology, slow origin, 英语词源] - slow (adj.)
- Old English slaw "inactive, sluggish, torpid, lazy," also "not clever," from Proto-Germanic *slæwaz (cognates: Old Saxon sleu "blunt, dull," Middle Dutch slee, Dutch sleeuw "sour, tart, blunt," Old High German sleo "blunt, dull," Old Norse sljor, Danish sløv, Swedish slö "blunt, dull"). Meaning "taking a long time" is attested from early 13c. Meaning "dull, tedious" is from 1841. As an adverb c. 1500. The slows "imaginary disease to account for lethargy" is from 1843.
- slow (v.)
- 1550s, "make slower;" 1590s, "go slower," from slow (adj.). Related: Slowed; slowing. Old English had slawian (intransitive) "to be or become slow, be sluggish," but the modern use appears to be a 16c. re-formation.