英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

insurgent [insurgent 词源字典]: insurgent: [18] An insurgent is etymologically someone who ‘rises up’. The word comes from the Latin verb insurgere, which was formed from in- in the sense ‘against’ and surgere ‘rise’ (source of English surge and source). An insurgent is hence fairly straightforwardly a rebel, someone taking part in an uprising, a belligerent who is not part of an officially recognized fighting force.

Choice of vocabulary in this area tends to be controversial, however, and the use of insurgent to denote Iraqi irredentists after the Coalition invasion of 2003 was widely criticized – partly, perhaps, from the misconception that they were being characterized as ‘surging in’ from outside the country. The longer established insurrection [15], from the same ultimate source, is much less liable to such misunderstanding.
=> resource, resurrection, source, surge[insurgent etymology, insurgent origin, 英语词源]
intact: intact: see entire
integral: integral: see entire
integrity: integrity: see entire
integument: integument: see protect
intellect: intellect: [14] Intellect and intelligent come from the same ultimate source: Latin intelligere ‘perceive, choose between’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix inter- ‘between’ and legere ‘gather, choose, read’ (source of English lecture, legible, etc). Its past participle intellectus came to be used as a noun meaning ‘perception, comprehension’, which English acquired as intellect via Old French; while its present participle intelligēns gave English intelligent [16].

The derivative intelligentsia [20] was borrowed from Russian intelligyentsia, which in turn came via Polish inteligiencja from Latin intelligentia ‘intelligence’.
=> intelligent, lecture, legible
intend: intend: [14] The Latin verb intendere (a compound formed from the prefix in- ‘towards’ and tendere ‘stretch’) had a variety of metaphorical meanings, some of which have come through into English. Principal among them was ‘form a plan or purpose’, an extension of an earlier ‘direct or ‘stretch’ one’s thoughts towards something’, which has given English intend and the derived intention [14].

The noun intent [13] belongs with this group too, but the adjective intent [17] looks back to the earlier ‘direct one’s mind towards a particular thing’, and intense [14] comes from the even more literal ‘stretched tight’. A medieval Latin addition to the meanings of intendere was ‘understand’, which English adopted in the 14th century. It had largely died out in English by the end of the 17th century, but it has persisted in the Romance languages, and has even developed further to ‘hear’ (which is what French entendre means).
=> intense, intention, tense
interest: interest: [15] The Latin verb interesse meant literally ‘be between’ (it was a compound of inter ‘between’ and esse ‘be’). It was used metaphorically for ‘be of concern, be important, matter’, and appears to have been borrowed into Anglo-Norman as a noun, meaning ‘what one has a legal concern in or share of’. English took this over in the 14th century as interesse, but it gradually changed over the next hundred years or so into interest, mainly due to the influence of Old French interest ‘damage’, which came from the third person present singular form of the Latin verb.

The main modern sense ‘curiosity’ developed towards the end of the 18th century.
interloper: interloper: [16] An interloper is literally someone who ‘runs between’. The word was coined in English, but based on Dutch loper, a derivative of lopen ‘run’ (to which English leap is related). It originally denoted someone who engaged in trade without authorization, and only in the 17th century took on its present-day meaning ‘interfering outsider’.
=> leap
intermediate: intermediate: see medium
intermezzo: intermezzo: see medium
internecine: internecine: [17] Etymologically, internecine denotes ‘attended by great slaughter’. Its modern connotations of ‘conflict within a group’, which can be traced back to the 18th century (Dr Johnson in his Dictionary 1755 defines it as ‘endeavouring mutual destruction’), presumably arise from the standard interpretation of inter- as ‘among, between’. But in fact in the case of internecine it was originally used simply as an intensive prefix.

The word was borrowed from Latin internecīnus, a derivative of internecāre ‘slaughter, exterminate’. This was a compound verb formed with the intensive inter- from necāre ‘kill’ (a relative of English necromancy and pernicious).
=> necromancy, pernicious
interpolate: interpolate: [17] The Latin ancestor of interpolate meant literally ‘polish up’. It was interpolāre, based on a verbal element -polāre that was related to polīre ‘polish’ (source of English polish). Its meaning gradually progressed metaphorically via ‘refurbish’ and ‘alter the appearance of’ to ‘falsify, particularly by the insertion of new material’ (this last presumably arising from a reassertion of the central meaning of inter-, ‘between’).

English originally took it over in the sense ‘alter, tamper with’, but before the middle of the 17th century the notion of ‘insertion, interjection’ had begun to emerge in its own right, and has gradually taken over from ‘alter’.
=> polish
interpose: interpose: see position
interregnum: interregnum: see reign
interrogate: interrogate: see prerogative
interrupt: interrupt: [15] Etymologically, interrupt means ‘break between’. It comes from the past participle of Latin interrumpere ‘break in’, a compound verb formed from the prefix inter- ‘between’ and rumpere ‘break’ (source of English rout and rupture).
=> corrupt, rout, rupture
intersect: intersect: see section
interval: interval: [13] The val- of interval represents Latin vallum ‘rampart’ (source of English wall) – so etymologically the word means ‘space between ramparts’. That was the original sense of its Latin ancestor, intervallum, but already in the classical period the metaphorical ‘gap in time, pause’ was developing.
=> wall
intestate: intestate: see testament