quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- cataract[cataract 词源字典]
- cataract: [15] Greek kataráktēs meant literally ‘swooping down, rushing down’; it was a derivative of the verb katarássein, a compound formed from the prefix katá- ‘down’ (which appears in a wide range of English words, including cataclysm, catalepsy, catalogue, catapult – literally ‘hurl down’ – and catastrophe) and the verb rássein ‘strike’.
Hence it was applied metaphorically to various things that ‘rush down’, including waterfalls and portcullises. The word passed into English via Latin cataracta, and the sense ‘opacity of the eye’s lens’ developed in the 16th century, probably as a metaphorical extension of the now obsolete ‘portcullis’.
[cataract etymology, cataract origin, 英语词源] - tarantella
- tarantella: [18] In the 15th century in southern Italy an epidemic of a curious nervous disorder broke out, one of whose symptoms was an uncontrollable compulsion to whirl and cavort around, as if dancing. The people attributed it to the bite of a spider, the tarantula [16], named after the local town and seaport of Taranto. In due course the dancing came to be rationalized as a method of counteracting the effects of the spider’s bite, and it was named tarantella, a diminutive form of Taranto. The word finally came to stand for a particular type of dance.
- ataractic (adj.)
- 1941, from Greek ataraktos "not disturbed" (see ataraxia) + -ic.
- ataraxia (n.)
- also Englished as ataraxy, "calmness, impassivity," c. 1600, from Modern Latin, from Greek ataraxia "impassiveness," from a-, privative prefix, + tarassein (Attic tarattein) "to disturb, confuse," from PIE root *dher- (1) "to make muddy, darken."
- cataract (n.)
- early 15c., "a waterfall, floodgate," from Latin cataracta "waterfall," from Greek katarhaktes "waterfall, broken water; a kind of portcullis," noun use of an adjective compound meaning "swooping, down-rushing," from kata "down" (see cata-). The second element is traced either to arhattein "to strike hard" (in which case the compound is kat-arrhattein), or to rhattein "to dash, break."
Its alternative sense in Latin of "portcullis" probably was passed through French to form the English meaning "eye disease" (early 15c.), on the notion of "obstruction" (to eyesight). - tarantella (n.)
- 1782, "peasant dance popular in Italy," originally "hysterical malady characterized by extreme impulse to dance" (1630s), epidemic in Apulia and adjacent parts of southern Italy 15c.-17c., popularly attributed to (or believed to be a cure for) the bite of the tarantula. This is likely folk-etymology, however, and the names of the dance and the spider more probably share an origin in Taranto, the name of a city in southern Italy (see tarantula). Used from 1833 to mean the style of music that accompanies this dance, usually in 6/8 time, with whirling triplets and abrupt major-minor modulations. Related: Tarantism.
- tarantula (n.)
- 1560s, "wolf spider," (Lycos tarantula), from Medieval Latin tarantula, from Italian tarantola, from Taranto "Taranto," seaport city in southern Italy in the region where the spiders are frequently found, from Latin Tarentum, from Greek Taras (genitive Tarantos; perhaps from Illyrian darandos "oak"). Its bite is only slightly poisonous. Popularly applied to other great hairy spiders, especially the genus Mygale, native to the warmer regions of the Americas (first so called in 1794).
- tuatara (n.)
- New Zealand lizard, 1844, from Maori, from tua "on the back" + tara "spine."
- ataraxy
- "A state of serene calmness", Early 17th century: from French ataraxie, from Greek ataraxia 'impassiveness', from a- 'not' + tarassein 'disturb'.
- altarage
- "The revenue arising from an altar in the form of oblations, offerings, etc.; the right to collect and retain this as income. Also as a count noun (chiefly in plural): an income or revenue so derived", Late Middle English; earliest use found in John Wyclif (d. 1384), theologian, philosopher, and religious reformer. From altar + -age, after Anglo-Norman auterage and Middle French autelage or post-classical Latin altaragium, alteragium, altelagium, altilagium.
- taramasalata
- "A pinkish paste or dip made from the roe of certain fish, mixed with olive oil and seasoning", From modern Greek taramas 'roe' (from Turkish tarama, denoting a preparation of soft roe or red caviar) + salata 'salad'.