英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

dromedary [dromedary 词源字典]: dromedary: [14] The dromedary, or onehumped camel, got its name from its swiftness of foot. The word comes via Old French dromedaire from late Latin dromedārius, an adjective formed from dromas, the Latin term for ‘camel’. This in turn was derived from the Greek dromás ‘runner’, a close relative of drómos ‘running, course’, which is the source of the -drome in such English words as hippodrome, aerodrome, and palindrome.
=> aerodrome, hippodrome, palindrome[dromedary etymology, dromedary origin, 英语词源]
rapid: rapid: [17] Like rape and rapture, rapid comes ultimately from Latin rapere ‘seize by force’. From this was derived the adjective rapidus, which originally denoted ‘carrying off by force’. The notion of ‘swiftness’ soon became incorporated into the meaning, however, and although the Latin adjective retained its original connotations of violence (it suggested ‘impetuous speed’ or ‘haste’), by the time it reached English it had simply become synonymous with ‘quick’.
=> rapture
Atalanta: in Greek mythology the daughter of king Schoeneus, famous for her swiftness, Latin, from Greek Atalante, fem. of atalantos "having the same value (as a man)," from a- "one, together" + talanton "balance, weight, value" (compare talent).
celerity (n.): late 15c., from Old French celeritee (14c., Modern French célérité), from Latin celeritatem (nominative celeritas) "swiftness," from celer "swift," from possible PIE root *kel- "to drive, set in swift motion" (cognates: Sanskrit carati "goes," Greek keles "fast horse or ship," keleuthos "journey, road," Lithuanian sulys "a gallop," Old High German scelo "stallion").
harpy (n.): winged monster of ancient mythology, late 14c., from Old French harpie (14c.), from Latin harpyia, from Greek Harpyia (plural), literally "snatchers," which is probably related to harpazein "to snatch" (see rapid (adj.)). Metaphoric extension to "repulsively greedy person" is c. 1400.
In Homer they are merely personified storm winds, who were believed to have carried off any person that had suddenly disappeared. In Hesiod they are fair-haired and winged maidens who surpass the winds in swiftness, and are called Aello and Ocypete; but in later writers they are represented as disgusting monsters, with heads like maidens, faces pale with hunger, and claws like those of birds. The harpies ministered to the gods as the executors of vengeance. ["American Cyclopædia," 1874]
haste (n.): late 13c., "hurrying, haste; celerity, swiftness, speed;" c. 1300, "need for quick action, urgency;" from Old French haste "haste, urgency, hastiness" (12c., Modern French hâte), from Frankish *haifst "violence" or another Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *haifstiz (cognates: Gothic haifsts "strife," Old English hæste "violent, vehement, impetuous"). From late 14c. as "undue haste, rashness, unwise or unseemly quickness." To make haste "act quickly" is recorded by 1530s.
rapidity (n.): 1650s, from French rapidité and directly from Latin rapiditatem (nominative rapiditas) "swiftness, rapidity, velocity," from rapidus "hasty, swift, rapid" (see rapid).
speed (n.): Old English sped "success, a successful course; prosperity, riches, wealth; luck; opportunity, advancement," from Proto-Germanic *spodiz (cognates: Old Saxon spod "success," Dutch spoed "haste, speed," Old High German spuot "success," Old Saxon spodian "to cause to succeed," Middle Dutch spoeden, Old High German spuoten "to haste"), from PIE *spo-ti-, from root *spe- (1) "to thrive, prosper" (cognates: Sanskrit sphayate "increases," Latin sperare "to hope," Old Church Slavonic spechu "endeavor," Lithuanian speju "to have leisure").

Meaning "rapidity of movement, quickness, swiftness" emerged in late Old English (at first usually adverbially, in dative plural, as in spedum feran). Meaning "rate of motion or progress" (whether fast or slow) is from c. 1200. Meaning "gear of a machine" is attested from 1866. Meaning "methamphetamine, or a related drug," first attested 1967, from its effect on users.

Speed limit is from 1879 (originally of locomotives); speed-trap is from 1908. Speed bump is 1975; figurative sense is 1990s. Full speed is recorded from late 14c. Speed reading first attested 1965. Speedball "mix of cocaine and morphine or heroin" is recorded from 1909.
swift (adj.): Old English swift "moving quickly," perhaps originally "turning quickly," from Proto-Germanic swip- (see swivel (n.)). Related: Swiftly; swiftness.
tacho-: word-forming element meaning "speed," from Latinized form of Greek takho-, comb. form of takhos "speed, swiftness, fleetness, velocity," related to takhys "swift," of unknown origin.
tachy-: word-forming element meaning "rapid, swift, fast," from Latinized comb. form of Greek takhys "swift, rapid, hasty," related to takhos "speed, swiftness," of uncertain origin.
Tigris: river in Turkey and Iraq, from an Iranian source akin to words for "arrow," probably in reference to the swiftness of its current. Compare Old Persian tigra- "sharp, pointed," Avestan tighri- "arrow."
velocity (n.): early 15c., from Latin velocitatem (nominative velocitas) "swiftness, speed," from velox (genitive velocis) "swift, speedy, rapid, quick," of uncertain origin, perhaps related to vehere "carry" (see vehicle), or from the same root as vigil.
wake (v.): "to become awake," a Middle English merger of Old English wacan "to become awake, arise, be born, originate," and Old English wacian "to be or remain awake," both from Proto-Germanic *waken (cognates: Old Saxon wakon, Old Norse vaka, Danish vaage, Old Frisian waka, Dutch waken, Old High German wahhen, German wachen "to be awake," Gothic wakan "to watch"), from PIE root *weg- (2) "to be strong, be lively" (cognates: Sanskrit vajah "force, strength; swiftness, speed," vajayati "drives on;" Latin vigil "watchful, awake," vigere "be lively, thrive," velox "fast, lively," vegere "to enliven;" vigil "awake, wakeful," vigor "liveliness, activity"). Causative sense "to rouse from sleep" is attested from c. 1300. Related: Waked; waking.