quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- fauvism[fauvism 词源字典]
- fauvism: see fallow
[fauvism etymology, fauvism origin, 英语词源] - improvise
- improvise: [19] Etymologically, if you improvise something, it is because it has not been ‘provided’ for in advance. The word comes via French improviser from the Italian adjective improvviso ‘extempore’, a descendant of Latin imprōvīsus ‘unforeseen’. This in turn was formed from the negative prefix in- and the past participle of prōvīdere ‘foresee’ (source of English provide).
The earliest recorded use of the verb in English is by Benjamin Disraeli in Vivian Grey 1826: ‘He possessed also the singular faculty of being able to improvise quotations’. (The closely related improvident ‘not providing for the future’ [16] preserves even more closely the sense of its Latin original.)
=> provide - ravish
- ravish: see ravenous
- recidivist
- recidivist: [19] A recidivist – a ‘persistent offender’ – is etymologically someone who ‘falls back’. The word was borrowed from French récidiviste, a descendant of medieval Latin recidīvāre. This in turn was based on the noun recidīvus ‘falling back’, a derivative of Latin recidere ‘fall back’, which was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and cadere ‘fall’ (source of English cadence, case, decadent, etc).
=> cadaver, cadence, case, decadent - revise
- revise: see visit
- television
- television: [20] Television means etymologically ‘far vision’. Its first element, tele-, comes from Greek téle ‘far off’, a descendant of the same base as télos ‘end’ (source of English talisman and teleology). Other English compounds formed from it include telegraph [18], telegram [19], telepathy [19] (etymologically ‘far feeling’, coined by the psychologist Frederic Myers in 1882), telephone [19], telescope [17] (a word of Italian origin), and telex [20] (a blend of teleprinter and exchange). Television itself was coined in French, and was borrowed into English in 1907.
Of its abbreviations, telly dates from about 1940, TV from 1948.
=> talisman, teleology - visa
- visa: [19] A visa is etymologically something ‘seen’. The word comes via French visa from Latin vīsa, literally ‘things seen’, a noun use of the neuter plural form of the past participle of vidēre ‘see’ (source of English vision, visit, etc). The notion underlying the word is that a visa is a note or other mark made on a passport to signify that it has been officially ‘seen’ or examined.
=> visit, vision - visit
- visit: [13] Visit is one of a large family of English words that go back to Latin vidēre ‘see’. This in turn was descended from the Indo-European base *woid-, *weid-, *wid-, which also produced English wise and wit. Other members of the family include envy, revise [16], survey, video [20], view, visa, visage, visible [14], vision [13], visor, vista [17], and visual [15]. Visit itself comes from the Latin derivative visitāre, which meant literally ‘go to see’.
=> envy, revise, survey, video, view, visa, visible, vision, visor, vista, visual, wise, wit - visor
- visor: [14] A visor is etymologically something that covers the ‘face’. The word was borrowed from Anglo-Norman viser, a derivative of Old French vis ‘face’. This in turn was descended from Latin vīsus ‘sight, appearance’ (a noun use of the past participle of vidēre ‘see’, source of English vision, visit, etc), which in post-classical times was used for ‘face’. Another derivative of Old French vis was visage ‘face’, from which English got visage [13].
=> visit, vision - vista
- vista: see visit
- visual
- visual: see visit
- activism (n.)
- 1920 in the political sense; see activist + -ism. Earlier (1907) it was used in reference to a philosophical theory.
- activist (n.)
- "one who advocates a doctrine of direct action," 1915; from active + -ist. Originally in reference to political forces in Sweden advocating abandonment of neutrality in World War I and active support for the Central Powers.
- advisability (n.)
- 1778 (in a letter from George Washington at Valley Forge), from advisable + -ity.
- advisable (adj.)
- 1640s, from advise (v.) + -able.
- advise (v.)
- late 13c., avisen "to view, consider," from Old French aviser "deliberate, reflect, consider" (13c.), from avis "opinion" (see advice). Meaning "to give counsel to" is late 14c. Related: Advised; advising.
- advisement (n.)
- early 14c., avisement "examination, inspection, observation," from Old French avisement "consideration, reflection," from aviser (see advise). Meaning "advice, counsel" is from c. 1400, as is that of "consultation, conference."
- adviser (n.)
- 1610s, agent noun from advise (v.). Meaning "military person sent to help a government or army in a foreign country" is recorded from 1915. Alternative form, Latinate advisor, is perhaps a back-formation from advisory.
- advisory (adj.)
- 1778; see advise + -ory. The noun meaning "weather warning" is from 1931.
- archivist (n.)
- 1753, from Medieval Latin or Italian archivista or French archiviste (see archives).
- arriviste (n.)
- "pushy, ambitious person," 1901, from French arriviste, from arriver "to arrive" (see arrive). The notion is of a person intent on "arriving" at success or in society.
- atavism (n.)
- 1833, from French atavisme, attested by 1820s, from Latin atavus "ancestor, forefather," from at- perhaps here meaning "beyond" + avus "grandfather," from PIE *awo- "adult male relative other than the father" (see uncle).
- atavistic (adj.)
- "pertaining to atavism," 1847; see atavism + -ic.
- audiovisual (adj.)
- also audio-visual, 1937, from audio- + visual.
- Avis
- U.S. car rental company, according to company history, founded 1946 at Willow Run Airport in Detroit by Warren Avis.
- carte de visite (n.)
- 1861, French, literally "visiting card" (see card (n.1)); photograph portrait mounted on a 3.5 by 2.5 inch card.
- clevis (n.)
- "U-shaped iron bar with holes for a bolt or pin, used as a fastener," 1590s, of unknown origin, perhaps from the root of cleave (v.2). Also uncertain is whether it is originally a plural or a singular.
- Clovis
- type of prehistoric stone spearpoints, 1943, from Clovis, New Mexico, U.S., near which place they were found. The town is said to have been named for the Frankish king Clovis (Latinized from Frankish Chlodovech, from Germanic masc. proper name *hluda-wigaz "famous in battle," cognate with Ludwig and Louis).
- collectivism (n.)
- 1880, in socialist theory, from collective + -ism. Related: Collectivist (1882 as both noun and adjective); collectivization (1890).
- constructivism (n.)
- 1924, in reference to an abstract artistic movement begun in Russia c. 1920, from Russian konstruktivizm. Related: Constructivist (1928).
- Davis Cup
- donated 1900 as a national tennis championship trophy by U.S. statesman Dwight Filley Davis (1879-1945) while still an undergraduate at Harvard.
- dervish (n.)
- 1580s, from Turkish dervish, from Persian darvesh, darvish "beggar, poor," hence "religious mendicant;" equivalent of Arabic faqir (see fakir). The "whirling dervishes" are just one order among many. Originally dervis; modern spelling is from mid-19c.
- devise (v.)
- early 13c., "to form, fashion;" c. 1300, "to plan, contrive," from Old French deviser "dispose in portions, arrange, plan, contrive" (in modern French, "to chat, gossip"), from Vulgar Latin *divisare, frequentative of Latin dividere "to divide" (see divide). Modern sense is from "to arrange a division" (especially via a will), a meaning present in the Old French word. Related: Devised; devising.
- divisible (adj.)
- early 15c., from Old French divisibile, from Late Latin divisibilis, from divis-, past participle stem of Latin dividere (see divide (v.)).
- division (n.)
- late 14c., from Old French division, from Latin divisionem (nominative divisio), from divid-, stem of dividere (see divide). Military sense is first recorded 1590s. Mathematical sense is from early 15c. The mathematical division sign supposedly was invented by British mathematician John Pell (1611-1685) who taught at Cambridge and Amsterdam.
- divisive (adj.)
- c. 1600, "having a quality of dividing," from Latin divis-, past participle stem of dividere (see divide (v.)) + -ive. Meaning "producing discord" is from 1640s. Related: Divisively; divisiveness.
- divisor (n.)
- early 15c., Latin agent noun from dividere (see divide (v.)).
- elvish (adj.)
- c. 1200, aluisc, "belonging to or pertaining to the elves; supernatural," from elf + -ish. Old English used ilfig in this sense.
- envisage (v.)
- 1778, "look in the face of," from French envisager "look in the face of," from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + visage "face" (see visage). Hence "to apprehend mentally, contemplate" (1837). Related: Envisaged; envisaging; envisagement.
- envision (v.)
- 1914, from en- (1) "make, put in" + vision (n.). Related: Envisioned; envisioning. Earlier (1827) is envision'd in sense "endowed with vision."
- eviscerate (v.)
- c. 1600 (figurative); 1620s (literal), from Latin evisceratus, past participle of eviscerare "to disembowel," from assimilated form of ex- "out" (see ex-) + viscera "internal organs" (see viscera). Sometimes used 17c. in a figurative sense of "to bring out the deepest secrets of." Related: Eviscerated; eviscerating.
- evisceration (n.)
- 1620s, noun of action from eviscerate.
- Fauvist
- movement in painting associated with Henri Matisse, 1915, from French fauve, "wild beast," a term applied in contempt to these painters by French art critic Louis Vauxcelles at Autumn Salon of 1905. The movement was a reaction against impressionism, featuring vivid use of colors. French fauve (12c.) in Old French meant "fawn-colored horse, dark-colored thing, dull," and is from Frankish *falw- or some other Germanic source, cognate with German falb "dun, pale yellowish-brown" and English fallow "brownish-yellow." Related: Fauvism (1912).
- hasta la vista
- Spanish, literally "until the meeting (again)," salutation in parting.
- improvisation (n.)
- mid-15c., "unforeseen happening;" 1786 as "act of improvising musically," from French improvisation, from improviser "compose or say extemporaneously," from Italian improvvisare, from improvviso "unforeseen, unprepared," from Latin improvisus "not foreseen, unforeseen, unexpected," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + provisus "foreseen," also "provided," past participle of providere "foresee, provide" (see provide).
- improvisational (adj.)
- 1879; see improvisation + -al (1).
- improvise (v.)
- 1826, back-formation from improvisation, or else from French improviser (17c.), from Italian improvisare "to sing or speak extempore," from improviso, from Latin improvisus "unforeseen, unexpected" (see improvisation). Or possibly a back-formation from improvisation. Related: Improvised; improvising.
- improvision (n.)
- "want of forethought," 1640s, from assimilated form of in- (1) "not, opposite of" + provision.
- inadvisability (n.)
- 1839, from inadvisable + -ity.
- inadvisable (adj.)
- 1819, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + advisable.