quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- curry[curry 词源字典]
- curry: Of the two English words curry, the older, ‘groom a horse’ [13], is now almost forgotten except in the compound currycomb and the phrase curry favour. It comes, via Old French correier, from Vulgar Latin *conrēdāre ‘arrange, prepare, get ready’, which seems to have been an adaptation and partial translation of a prehistoric Germanic verb *garǣthjan, a derivative of the base which produced English ready.
The expression curry favour is a partial translation of Old French estriller favel or torcher favel, literally ‘groom a chestnut horse’, which, for reasons that are not known, was used as a metaphor for hypocritical behaviour; the word favel, unfamiliar to English speakers, was replaced with the semantically appropriate favour. Curry ‘spiced dish’ [16] was borrowed from Tamil kari ‘sauce’.
=> ready[curry etymology, curry origin, 英语词源] - five
- five: [OE] Five is one of a general Indo-European family of words signifying ‘five’. It goes back ultimately to Indo-European *pengke, which also produced Greek pénte (source of English pentagon [16], pentecost [OE] – literally ‘fiftieth day’ – pentagram [19], etc), Sanskrit panca (source of English punch ‘spiced drink’), and Latin quīnque. In due course this under-went a phonetic transformation to *pempe, which was the direct ancestor of prehistoric Germanic *fimfi. This led on in its turn to German fünf, Dutch vijf. Swedish and Danish fem, and English five.
=> finger, fist, pentagon, punch - gravy
- gravy: [14] To begin with, the word gravy signified a sort of spiced stock-based sauce served with white meat; it was not until the 16th century that its modern sense ‘meat juices’ or ‘sauce made from them’ emerged. Its origins are problematical. It is generally agreed that its v represents a misreading of an n in the Old French word, grané, from which it was borrowed (modern v was written u in medieval manuscripts, and was often very hard to distinguish from n); but what the source of grané was is not clear.
The favourite candidate is perhaps grain (source of English grain), as if ‘sauce flavoured with grains of spice’, but graine ‘meat’ has also been suggested.
=> grain - toast
- toast: [14] Toast comes via Old French toster ‘roast, grill’ from Vulgar Latin *tostāre, a derivative of the past participle of Latin torrēre ‘parch’ (source of English torrid). Its use as a noun, meaning ‘toasted bread’, dates from the 15th century. It was common to put sippets or croutons of spiced toast into drinks to improve their flavour, and it was the custom of gallants in the 17th century, when (as they frequently did) they drank the health of ladies, to say that the name of the lady in question enhanced the flavour of their drink better than any toast.
That is supposedly the origin of the use of the term toast for ‘drinking someone’s health’.
=> thirst, torrent, torrid - chai (n.)
- "tea," 1919, from the Russian or Arabic word for "tea" (see tea, and compare cha). Now used especially of spiced teas.
- chorizo (n.)
- "spiced pork sausage," 1846, from Spanish chorizo.
- gingerbread (n.)
- late 13c., gingerbrar, "preserved ginger," from Old French ginginbrat "ginger preserve," from Medieval Latin gingimbratus "gingered," from gingiber (see ginger). The ending changed by folk etymology to -brede "bread," a formation attested by mid-14c. Meaning "sweet cake spiced with ginger" is from 15c. Figurative use, indicating anything considered showy and insubstantial, is from c. 1600. Sense of "fussy decoration on a house" is first recorded 1757; gingerbread-work (1748) was a sailor's term for carved decoration on a ship. Gingerbread-man as a confection is from 1850; the rhyme ("The Chase of the Gingerbread Man," by Ella M. White) is from 1898.
- ketchup (n.)
- 1711, said to be from Malay kichap, but probably not original to Malay. It might have come from Chinese koechiap "brine of fish," which, if authentic, perhaps is from the Chinese community in northern Vietnam [Terrien de Lacouperie, in "Babylonian and Oriental Record," 1889, 1890]. Catsup (earlier catchup, 1680s) is a failed attempt at Englishing, still in use in U.S., influenced by cat and sup.
Originally a fish sauce, the word came to be used in English for a wide variety of spiced gravies and sauces; "Apicius Redivivus; or, the Cook's Oracle," by William Kitchiner, London, 1817, devotes 7 pages to recipes for different types of catsup (his book has 1 spelling of ketchup, 72 of catsup), including walnut, mushroom, oyster, cockle and mussel, tomata, white (vinegar and anchovies figure in it), cucumber, and pudding catsup. Chambers's Encyclopaedia (1870) lists mushroom, walnut, and tomato ketchup as "the three most esteemed kinds." Tomato ketchup emerged c. 1800 in U.S. and predominated from early 20c. - marinade (n.)
- 1704, from French marinade "spiced vinegar or brine for pickling," from mariner "to pickle" (see marinate). As a verb from 1680s. Related: Marinaded; marinading.
- pimento (n.)
- 1680s, pimiento (modern form from 1718), from Spanish pimiento "green or red pepper," also pimienta "black pepper," from Late Latin pigmenta, plural of pigmentum "vegetable juice," from Latin pigmentum "pigment" (see pigment (n.)). So called because it added a dash of color to food or drink.
[I]n med.L. spiced drink, hence spice, pepper (generally), Sp. pimiento, Fr. piment are applied to Cayenne or Guinea pepper, capsicum; in Eng. the name has passed to allspice or Jamaica pepper. [OED]
The piece of red sweet pepper stuffed in a pitted olive so called from 1918, earlier pimiento (1901), from Spanish. French piment is from Spanish. - posset (n.)
- spiced drink of hot milk and liquor, mid-15c., of unknown origin.
- prosciutto (n.)
- Italian spiced ham, 1911, from Italian, alteration (probably by influence of prosciugato "dried") of presciutto, from pre-, intensive prefix + -sciutto, from Latin exsuctus "lacking juice, dried up," past participle of exsugere "suck out, draw out moisture," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + sugere "to suck" (see sup (v.2)).
- salami (n.)
- "salted, flavored Italian sausage," 1852, from Italian salami, plural of salame "spiced pork sausage," from Vulgar Latin *salamen, from *salare "to salt," from Latin sal (genitive salis) "salt" (see salt (n.)).
- seasoned (adj.)
- mid-15c., "flavored, spiced," past participle adjective from season (v.). Meaning "fit for use" is from 1540s; that of "acclimatized, accustomed" is from 1640s.
- sloppy (adj.)
- 1727, "muddy," from slop (n.1) + -y (2). Meaning "loose, ill-fitting, slovenly" is first recorded 1825, influenced by slop (n.2). Related: Sloppily; sloppiness. Sloppy Joe was originally "loose-fitting sweater worn by girls" (1942); as a name for a kind of spiced hamburger, it is attested from 1961.
- spam (n.)
- proprietary name registered by Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in U.S., 1937; probably a conflation of spiced ham. Soon extended to other kinds of canned meat.
In the sense of "Internet junk mail" it was coined by Usenet users after March 31, 1993, when Usenet administrator Richard Depew inadvertently posted the same message 200 times to a discussion group. The term had been used in online text games, and ultimately it is from a 1970 sketch on the British TV show "Monty Python's Flying Circus" wherein a reading of a restaurant's menu devolves into endless repetitions of "spam." - spice (v.)
- "to season with spices," early 14c. (implied in spiced), from spice (n.), or from Old French espicier, from the French noun. Figurative sense of "to vary, diversify" is from 1520s.
- taco (n.)
- tortilla filled with spiced meat, etc., 1949, from Mexican Spanish, "light lunch," literally "plug, wadding."
- toast (n.1)
- "a call to drink to someone's health," 1700 (but said by Steele, 1709, to date to the reign of Charles II), originally referring to the beautiful or popular woman whose health is proposed and drunk. The custom apparently has its origin in the use of spiced toast (n.2) to flavor drink, the lady being regarded as figuratively adding piquancy to the wine in which her health was drunk. Steele's story ["Tatler," No. 24] is that an (unnamed) beauty of the day was taking the cold waters at Bath, when a gentleman dipped his cup in the water and drank it to her health; another in his company wittily (or drunkenly) replied that, while he did not care for the drink, he would gladly enjoy the toast. Meaning "one whose health is proposed and drunk to" is from 1746. Toast-master attested from 1749.
- wassail
- mid-12c., from Old Norse ves heill "be healthy," a salutation, from ves, imperative of vesa "to be" (see was) + heill "healthy," from Proto-Germanic *haila- (see health). Use as a drinking phrase appears to have arisen among Danes in England and spread to native inhabitants.
A similar formation appears in Old English wes þu hal, but this is not recorded as a drinking salutation. Sense extended c. 1300 to "liquor in which healths were drunk," especially spiced ale used in Christmas Eve celebrations. Meaning "a carousal, reveling" first attested c. 1600. Wassailing "custom of going caroling house to house at Christmas time" is recorded from 1742. - doner kebab
- "A Turkish dish consisting of spiced lamb cooked on a spit and served in slices, typically with pitta bread", From Turkish döner kebap, from döner 'rotating' and kebap 'roast meat'.
- samosa
- "A triangular savoury pastry fried in ghee or oil, containing spiced vegetables or meat", From Persian and Urdu.
- fajitas
- "A dish of Mexican origin consisting of strips of spiced beef or chicken, chopped vegetables, and grated cheese, wrapped in a soft tortilla and often served with sour cream", Mexican Spanish, literally 'little strips'.
- pandowdy
- "A kind of spiced apple pudding baked in a deep dish", Mid 19th century: of unknown origin.
- dosa
- "(In southern Indian cooking) a pancake made from rice flour and ground pulses, typically served with a spiced vegetable filling", From Tamil tōcai.