英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

AOL [AOL 词源字典]: dominant online service of the late 1990s, initialism (acronym) of America Online, company name from late 1989.[AOL etymology, AOL origin, 英语词源]
aorist (n.): 1580s, the simple past tense of Greek verbs, from Greek aoristos (khronos) "indefinite (tense)," from privative prefix a- "not" (see a- (3)) + horistos "limited, defined," verbal adjective from horizein "to limit, define," from horos "boundary, limit, border" (see horizon).
aorta (n.): 1570s, from Medieval Latin aorta, from Greek aorte, term applied by Aristotle to the great artery of the heart, literally "what is hung up," from aeirein "to lift, heave, raise," which is of uncertain origin; related to the second element in meteor. Used earlier by Hippocrates of the bronchial tubes. Related: Aortal; aortic.
AP: abbreviation of Associated Press, first recorded 1879; the organization was founded May 1848 as co-operative news gathering effort among New York City newspaper publishers covering the war with Mexico.
ap- (2): patronymic prefix in Welsh names, earlier map "son," cognate with Gaelic mac. Since 17c. merged into surnames (Ap Rhys = Price, Ap Evan = Bevan, etc.).
It is said that a Welshman who evidently was not willing to be surpassed in length of pedigree, when making out his genealogical tree, wrote near the middle of his long array of 'aps' -- "about this time Adam was born." ["Origin and Significance of our Names," "The Chautauquan," Oct. 1887-July 1888]
ap- (1): form of Latin ad- before words beginning in -p-; see ad-.
apace (adv.): mid-14c., from a pace, literally "at a pace," but usually with a sense of "at a good pace," from a- (1) "on" + pace (n.).
Apache: 1745, from American Spanish (1598), probably from Yavapai (a Yuman language) 'epache "people." Sometimes derived from Zuni apachu "enemy" (see F.W. Hodge, "American Indians," 1907), but this seems to have been the Zuni name for the Navajo.

French journalistic sense of "Parisian gangster or thug" first attested 1902. Apache dance was the World War I-era equivalent of 1990s' brutal "slam dancing." Fenimore Cooper's Indian novels were enormously popular in Europe throughout the 19c., and comparisons of Cooper's fictional Indian ways in the wilderness and underworld life in European cities go back to Dumas' "Les Mohicans de Paris" (1854-1859). It is probably due to the imitations of Cooper (amounting almost to plagiarisms) by German author Karl May (1842-1912) that Apaches replaced Mohicans in popular imagination. Also compare Mohawk.
apanage (n.): see appanage.
apart (adv.): late 14c., from Old French à part "to the side," from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + partem, accusative of pars "a side" (see part (n.)).
apartheid (n.): 1947 (policy begun 1948), from Afrikaans apartheid (1929 in a South African socio-political context), literally "separateness," from Dutch apart "separate" (from French àpart; see apart) + suffix -heid, cognate of English -hood. The official English synonym was separate development (1955).
"Segregation" is such an active word that it suggests someone is trying to segregate someone else. So the word "apartheid" was introduced. Now it has such a stench in the nostrils of the world, they are referring to "autogenous development." [Alan Paton, "New York Times," Oct. 24, 1960]
apartment (n.): 1640s, "private rooms for the use of one person within a house," from French appartement (16c.), from Italian appartimento, literally "a separated place," from appartere "to separate," from a "to" (see ad-) + parte "side, place," from Latin partem (see part (n.)). Sense of "set of private rooms in a building entirely of these" (the U.S. equivalent of British flat) is first attested 1874.
apathetic (adj.): 1744, from apathy + -ic, on model of pathetic.
apathy (n.): c. 1600, "freedom from suffering," from French apathie (16c.), from Latin apathia, from Greek apatheia "freedom from suffering, impassability, want of sensation," from apathes "without feeling, without suffering or having suffered," from a- "without" (see a- (3)) + pathos "emotion, feeling, suffering" (see pathos). Originally a positive quality; sense of "indolence of mind, indifference to what should excite" is from c. 1733.
APB: also a.p.b., 1960, police jargon initialism (acronym) for all-points bulletin, itself attested by 1953 (perhaps more in the jargon of detective novels than in actual police use).
ape (n.): Old English apa "ape, monkey," from Proto-Germanic *apan (cognates: Old Saxon apo, Old Norse api, Dutch aap, German affe), perhaps borrowed in Proto-Germanic from Celtic (compare Old Irish apa) or Slavic (compare Old Bohemian op, Slovak opitza), perhaps ultimately from a non-Indo-European language.

Apes were noted in medieval times for mimicry of human action, hence, perhaps, the other figurative use of the word, to mean "a fool." To go ape (in emphatic form, go apeshit) "go crazy" is 1955, U.S. slang. To lead apes in hell (1570s) was the fancied fate of one who died an old maid.
ape (v.): "to imitate," 1630s, but the notion is implied earlier, as in the phrase play the ape (1570s), Middle English apeshipe "ape-like behavior, simulation" (mid-15c.); and the noun sense of "one who mimics" may date from early 13c. Related: Aped; aping.
ape-man (n.): hypothetical "missing link," 1879, in a translation of Haeckel, from ape (n.) + man (n.). Man-ape is attested from 1878. The name Martin Halfape appears in an English roll from 1227.
apercu (n.): "quick impression, sketch, brief survey," 1820s, from French aperçu (18c. in this sense), noun use of past participle of apercevoir "to perceive" (11c.), from Gallo-Roman *adpercipere, from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + percipere "to perceive" (see perceive).
aperiodic (adj.): 1874, from a- (2), privative prefix, + periodic.