英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

transcript [transcript 词源字典]: transcript: see scribe
[transcript etymology, transcript origin, 英语词源]
transfer: transfer: [14] Transfer comes via Old French transferer from Latin trānsferre ‘carry across’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix trāns- ‘across’ (a distant relative of English through) and ferre ‘carry’ (a relative of English bear, birth, fertile, etc). Its past participle trānslātus gave English translate.
=> bear
transfix: transfix: see fix
transgress: transgress: see gradual
transient: transient: [17] English adapted transient from trānsiēns, the present participle of Latin trānsīre ‘go over’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix trāns- ‘across, over’ and īre ‘go’ (source also of English coitus, exit, obituary, etc). Also from trānsīre come English trance [14], transit [15], transition [16], transitive [16], and transitory [14].
=> coitus, exit, obituary, transit, transitory
translate: translate: [13] To translate something is etymologically to ‘carry it across’ from one language into another. The word was acquired from trānslātus, the past participle of Latin trānsferre ‘carry across, transfer, translate’ (source of English transfer).
=> extol, relate
transparent: transparent: [15] Etymologically, something that is transparent allows the light to ‘appear through’ it. The word comes via Old French from medieval Latin trānspārēns, the present participle of trānspārēre ‘be seen through’. This was a compound verb formed from the Latin prefix trāns- ‘across, through’ and pārēre ‘show, appear’ (source of English appear).
=> appear
transpire: transpire: see spirit
transpose: transpose: see position
transvestite: transvestite: see travesty
trap: trap: [OE] The precise origins of trap are obscure. It goes back to an Old English træppe, and it has various relatives in the modern Germanic and Romance languages – Flemish trape, French trappe, Portuguese trapa, for instance – but its ultimate ancestry has never been unravelled. Its application to a small carriage emerged in the 19th century; it may be short for rattle-trap ‘rickety vehicle’.
trapeze: trapeze: [19] Trapeze and quadruped are ultimately the same word: both mean etymologically ‘four feet’. Trapeze comes via French trapèze and late Latin trapezium (source of English trapezium [16]) from Greek trapézion ‘small table’. This was a diminutive form of trápeza ‘table’, literally ‘four-footed’ thing, a compound noun formed from tetra- ‘four’ and peza ‘foot’ (a relative of English foot).

The Greek mathematician Euclid used trapézion for a ‘table’-shaped geometrical figure, a quadrilateral. The application to the piece of gymnastic equipment, which evolved in French, alludes to the quadrilateral shape formed by the trapeze’s ropes and crossbar and the roof or other support it hangs from.
=> foot, quadruped
trappings: trappings: [14] Trappings are etymologically ‘drapery’. The word was adapted from Anglo- Norman *trapour, a variant of Old French drapure; and this in turn was a derivative of drap ‘cloth’, source of English drape, drapery, etc. It was originally used in English for an ‘ornamental covering for a horse’, and its more general modern meaning did not emerge until the 16th century.
=> drape, drapery
travel: travel: [14] Travel and travail [13] are doublets – that is to say, they have a common ancestor, but have split into separate words. Their ultimate source is medieval Latin trepālium, a term for an instrument of torture made of three sharp stakes. This was a compound noun formed from Latin trēs ‘three’ and pālus ‘stake’ (source of English pale).

From it was formed a verb *trepāliāre ‘torture on the trepālium’, hence generally ‘torture’. This passed into Old French as travailler, where its reflexive use ‘put oneself to pain or trouble’ evolved to ‘work hard’. Its noun derivative travail ‘painful effort, hard work’ was borrowed by English as travail, and this quickly developed a new sense, ‘journey’ (presumably from the notion of a ‘wearisome journey’), which came to be distinguished by the spelling travel.
=> pale, three, travail
travesty: travesty: [17] Travesty and transvestite [20] are first cousins. Both are compounded of the Latin elements trāns- ‘across’ and vestīre ‘clothe’ (source of English vest, vestment, etc), but they are separate formations. Travesty comes ultimately from Italian travestire ‘change clothes so as to disguise’, formed from the Italian descendants of the Latin elements.

This was borrowed into French as travestir ‘ridicule’, and its past participle travesti gave English travesty. Transvestite is a new formation, coined in German in the first decade of the 20th century (although there are a couple of isolated instances of a verb transvest ‘cross-dress’ from the 1650s).
=> invest, transvestite, vest, vestment
trawl: trawl: [17] Trawl was probably borrowed from Middle Dutch traghelen ‘drag’. This was a derivative of traghel ‘net pulled along behind a boat for catching fish’, which in turn came from Latin trāgula, a possible relative of trahere ‘pull’ (source of English tractor, treat, etc). Trāgula probably also lies behind English trail [14].
=> trail
tray: tray: see tree
treachery: treachery: [13] Despite the passing resemblance, treachery has no etymological connection with traitor or treason. In fact, its closest English relative is trick. The word was borrowed from Old French trecherie, a derivative of trichier ‘cheat’ (source of English trick).
=> trick
treacle: treacle: [14] Treacle is etymologically an ‘antidote to the bite of wild animals’. The word comes via Old French triacle and Latin thēriaca from Greek thēriaké. This was short for antídotos thēriaké ‘antidote to poisonous animals’, thēriaké being a derivative of thēríon ‘wild animal, poisonous animal’, which in turn came from thér ‘wild savage’. It retained its original meaning into English, but it then gradually broadened out into ‘medicine’, and the practice of disguising the unpleasant taste of medicine with sugar syrup led in the 17th century to its application to ‘syrup’.
tread: tread: [OE] Tread comes from a prehistoric Germanic *trethan, which also produced German treten, Dutch treden, Swedish träda, and Danish træde. It does not appear to have any relations outside Germanic, however. Trade comes from the same base, and it is thought that trot [13] may do so too, although its immediate source was Old French troter.
=> trade, trot