quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- banality (n.)[banality 词源字典]
- 1861, triteness, from French banalité "banality, commonplace," from banal (see banal).[banality etymology, banality origin, 英语词源]
- banana (n.)
- 1590s, borrowed by Spanish or Portuguese from a West African word, possibly Wolof banana. The plant was introduced to the New World from Africa in 1516. Top banana, second banana, etc. are 1950s, from show business slang use of banana for "comedian, especially in a burlesque show." Banana split first attested 1920. Banana oil "nonsense" is slang from c. 1910.
- banana republic (n.)
- "small Central American state with an economy dependent on banana production," 1901, American English.
- bananas (adj.)
- "crazy," 1968; earlier (1935) it was noted as an underworld slang term for "sexually perverted."
- banausic (adj.)
- "merely mechanical," coined 1845 from Greek banausikos "pertaining to mechanics," from banausos "artisan, mere mechanical," hence (to the Greeks) "base, ignoble;" perhaps literally "working by fire," from baunos "furnace, forge" (but Klein dismisses this as folk etymology and calls it "of uncertain origin").
- band (n.1)
- "a flat strip," also "something that binds," a merger of two words, ultimately from the same source. In the sense "that by which someone or something is bound," it is attested from early 12c., from Old Norse band "thin strip that ties or constrains," from Proto-Germanic *bindan, from PIE *bendh- "to bind" (cognates: Gothic bandi "that which binds; Sanskrit bandhah "a tying, bandage," source of bandana; Middle Irish bainna "bracelet;" see bend (v.), bind (v.)). Most of the figurative senses of this word have passed into bond (n.), which originally was a phonetic variant of this band.
The meaning "a flat strip" (late 14c.) is from Old French bande "strip, edge, side," via Old North French bende, from Old High German binda, from Proto-Germanic *bindan (see above). In Middle English, this was distinguished by the spelling bande, but since the loss of the final -e the words have fully merged. Meaning "broad stripe of color" is from late 15c.; the electronics sense of "range of frequencies or wavelengths" is from 1922. The Old North French form was retained in heraldic bend. Band saw is recorded from 1864. - band (n.2)
- "an organized group," late 15c., from Middle French bande, which is traceable to the Proto-Germanic root of band (n.1), probably via a band of cloth worn as a mark of identification by a group of soldiers or others (compare Gothic bandwa "a sign"). The extension to "group of musicians" is c. 1660, originally musicians attached to a regiment of the army. To beat the band (1897) is to make enough noise to drown it out, hence to exceed everything.
- band (v.)
- 1520s, "to bind or fasten;" also "to join in a company," from band (n.1) and (n.2) in various noun senses, and partly from French bander. The meaning "to affix an ID band to (a wild animal, etc.)" is attested from 1914. Related: Banded; banding.
- Band-Aid (n.)
- trademark registered 1924 by Johnson & Johnson for a stick-on gauze pad or strip. See band (n.1) + aid (n.). The British equivalent was Elastoplast. Figurative sense of "temporary or makeshift solution to a problem, pallative" (often lower case, sometimes bandaid) is first recorded 1968; as an adjective, from 1970.
- bandage (n.)
- 1590s, from Middle French bandage (16c.), from Old French bander "to bind," from bande "a strip" (see band (n.1)).
- bandage (v.)
- 1774, from bandage (n.). Related: Bandaged; bandaging.
- bandana (n.)
- also often bandanna, 1752, from Hindi bandhnu, a method of dyeing, from Sanskrit badhnati "binds" (because the cloth is tied like modern tie-dye), from same PIE root as band (n.1). Etymologically, the colors and spots are what makes it a bandana.
- bandeau (n.)
- 1706, from French bandeau, from Old French bandel (12c.), diminutive of bande "band" (see band (n.1)).
- bandicoot (n.)
- 1789, from Telugu pandi-kokku, literally "pig-rat." Properly a large and destructive Indian rat; applied from 1827 to a type of insectivorous Australian marsupial somewhat resembling it.
- bandit (n.)
- 1590s, from Italian bandito (plural banditi) "outlaw," past participle of bandire "proscribe, banish," from Vulgar Latin *bannire "to proclaim, proscribe," from Proto-Germanic *bann (see ban (v.)). *Bannire (or its Frankish cognate *bannjan) in Old French became banir-, which, with lengthened stem, became English banish.
- banditry (n.)
- 1861, from bandit + -ry.
- bandolier (n.)
- 1570s, "shoulder belt (for a wallet)," from French bandouiliere (16c.), from Italian bandoliera or Spanish bandolera, from diminutive of banda "a scarf, sash," a Germanic loan-word related to Gothic bandwa (see band (n.2)). In some cases, directly from Spanish to English as bandoleer. Meaning "ammunition belt for a musket" is from 1590s; hence bandolero "highwayman, robber" (1832), from Spanish, literally "man who wears a bandoleer."
- bandstand (n.)
- also band-stand, 1859, from band (n.2) + stand (n).
- bandwagon (n.)
- also band-wagon, 1855, American English, from band (n.2) + wagon, originally a large wagon used to carry the band in a circus procession; as these also figured in celebrations of successful political campaigns, being on the bandwagon came to represent "attaching oneself to anything that looks likely to succeed," a usage first attested 1899 in writings of Theodore Roosevelt.
- bandwidth (n.)
- 1930, in electronics, from band (n.1) + width.