英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

labourer (n.)[labourer 词源字典]: chiefly British English spelling of laborer; for suffix, see -or.[labourer etymology, labourer origin, 英语词源]
Labrador: large province of eastern Canada, probably from Portuguese lavrador "landholder," perhaps in reference to 15c. Portuguese explorer Joao Fernandes, a landholder in the Azores. The name was first applied to Greenland. The breed of retriever dog so called from 1815. Related: Labradorian.
labret (n.): ornament inserted into a lip, 1843 (first reference is to Eskimo men), from Latin labrum "lip" (see labrum) + -et, as in anklet, bracelet, etc.
labrum (n.): lip or lip-like part, 1816, in various anatomical and zoological uses, from Latin labrum, cognate with labium "lip" (see lip (n.)). Also noted mid-15c. as the name of some herb.
laburnum (n.): 1570s, from Latin laburnum (Pliny), of unknown origin; perhaps from Etruscan.
labyrinth (n.): c. 1400, laberynthe (late 14c. in Latinate form laborintus) "labyrinth, maze," figuratively "bewildering arguments," from Latin labyrinthus, from Greek labyrinthos "maze, large building with intricate passages," especially the structure built by Daedelus to hold the Minotaur near Knossos in Crete, from a pre-Greek language; perhaps related to Lydian labrys "double-edged axe," symbol of royal power, which fits with the theory that the labyrinth was originally the royal Minoan palace on Crete and meant "palace of the double-axe." Used in English for "maze" early 15c., and in figurative sense of "confusing state of affairs" (1540s).
labyrinthine (adj.): 1630s; see labyrinth + -ine (1). Earlier adjective forms were labyrinthian (1580s); labyrinthial (1540s).
lac (n.): "red resinous substance," 1550s (perhaps via Middle French lacce), earlier lacca (early 15c., from Medieval Latin form lacca), from Persian lak, from Hindi lakh (Prakrit lakkha), from Sanskrit laksha "red dye," of uncertain origin. According to Klein, literally "one hundred thousand," in reference to the insects that gather in great numbers on the trees and make the resin run out. But others say lakh is an alteration of Sanskrit rakh, from an IE root word for "color, dye" [Watkins]. Still another guess is that Sanskrit laksha is related to English lax, lox "salmon," and the substance was perhaps originally so called from being somewhat the color of salmon [Barnhart].
lace (n.): early 13c., laz, "cord made of braided or interwoven strands of silk, etc.," from Old French laz "a net, noose, string, cord, snare" (Modern French lacs), from Vulgar Latin *lacium, from Latin laqueum (nominative laqueus) "noose, snare" (source also of Italian laccio, Spanish lazo), a trapping and hunting term, probably from Italic base *laq- "to ensnare" (compare Latin lacere "to entice"). Later also "net, noose, snare" (c. 1300); and "piece of cord used to draw together the edges of slits or openings in an article of clothing" (late 14c., as in shoelace). The "ornamental net pattern" meaning is first recorded 1550s. As an adjective, lace-curtain "middle class" (or lower-class with middle-class pretensions), usually is used in reference to Irish-Americans, is attested by 1928.
lace (v.): c. 1200, "fasten (clothing, etc.) with laces and ties," from Old French lacier, from laz (see lace (n.)). Also "tighten (a garment) by pulling its laces" (early 14c.). To lace coffee, etc., with a dash of liquor (1670s) originally was used of sugar, and comes via the notion of "to ornament or trim." Related: Laced; lacing. Laced mutton was "an old word for a whore" [Johnson].
lace-up (adj.): 1831, originally of boots, from the verbal phrase, from lace (v.) + up (adv.).
Lacedaemonian (adj.): 1780, from Latin Lacedaemonius, from Greek Lakedaimonios, from Lakedaimon, an ancient Greek name for Sparta and the district around it.
lacerate (v.): early 15c., from Latin laceratus, past participle of lacerare "tear to pieces, mangle," figuratively, "to slander, censure, abuse," from lacer "torn, mangled," from PIE root *lek- "to rend, tear" (cognates: Greek lakis "tatter, rag," lakizein "to tear to pieces;" Russian lochma "rag, tatter, scrap;" Albanian l'akur "naked"). Related: Lacerated; lacerating.
laceration (n.): 1590s, from Middle French lacération, from Latin lacerationem (nominative laceratio), noun of action from past participle stem of lacerare (see lacerate).
lacey: see lacy.
laches (n.): "negligence in performance of legal dute," 1570s, earlier simply "slackness, negligence, want of zeal" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French laches, Old French lachesse, from Old French lasche (Modern French lâche), verbal adjective from lascher, from Vulgar Latin *lascare, classical laxare, from laxus (see loose). Compare riches.
lachrymal (adj.): also lachrimal, early 15c., from Medieval Latin lacrimalis, from Latin lacrima (see lachrymose).
lachrymose (adj.): 1660s, "tear-like," from Latin lacrimosus "tearful, sorrowful, weeping," also "causing tears, lamentable," from lacrima "tear," a dialect-altered borrowing of Greek dakryma "tear," from dakryein "to shed tears," from dakry "tear," from PIE *dakru- (see tear (n.1)). Meaning "given to tears, tearful" is first attested 1727; meaning "of a mournful character" is from 1822.

The -d- to -l- alteration in Latin is the so-called "Sabine -L-"; compare Latin olere "smell," from root of odor, and Ulixes, the Latin form of Greek Odysseus. The Medieval Latin practice of writing -ch- for -c- before Latin -r- also altered anchor, pulchritude, sepulchre. The -y- is pedantic, from belief in a Greek origin. Middle English had lacrymable "tearful" (mid-15c.).
lack (n.): c. 1300, "absence, want; shortage, deficiency," perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *lac, or else borrowed from Middle Dutch lak "deficiency, fault;" in either case from Proto-Germanic *laka- (cognates: Old Frisian lek "disadvantage, damage," Old Norse lakr "lacking"), from PIE *leg- "to dribble, trickle" (see leak (v.)). Middle English also had lackless "without blame or fault."
lack (v.): late 12c., perhaps from Middle Dutch laken "to be wanting," from lak (n.) "deficiency, fault," or an unrecorded native cognate word (see lack (n.)). Related: Lacked; lacking.