英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

their [their 词源字典]: their: [12] Like they and them, their was borrowed from Old Norse. Its source was theirra, the genitive plural form of the demonstrative adjective sá. The pronoun form theirs [13] is an English creation.
=> them, they[their etymology, their origin, 英语词源]
them: them: [12] The Old English set of forms of the third person plural pronoun was hīe, hiera, and him. These were replaced at the end of the Old English period by they, their, and them, which came from Old Norse, but the colloquial ’em for them is a lineal descendant of him.
=> their, they
theme: theme: [13] Greek théma denoted etymologically ‘something placed’, hence a ‘proposition’ (it was formed from the base *the-, source also of tithénai ‘place, put’ and distant relative of English do). English acquired the word via Latin thēma and Old French *teme as teme, but soon reverted to the Latin spelling.
=> do
then: then: [OE] Then was formed from the ancient demonstrative base *ta-, which also underlies English that and there. Its West Germanic relatives include German dann and Dutch dan. It is ultimately the same word as than.
=> than, the, there
theology: theology: [14] Greek theós meant ‘god’. (Despite the more than passing similarity, it is not related to Latin deus ‘god’, source of English deity. Its precise ancestry has never been determined. It may go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *dhē- ‘put, place’, which also produced English do, but it could equally well have been borrowed from a non-Indo- European source.) From it was derived theologíā ‘study of divine things’, which passed into English via Latin theologia and Old French theologie, and also apothéōsis ‘deification’, from which English gets apotheosis [17].
=> apotheosis
theory: theory: [16] The etymological notion underlying theory is of ‘looking’; only secondarily did it develop via ‘contemplation’ to ‘mental conception’. It comes via late Latin theōria from Greek theōríā ‘contemplation, speculation, theory’. This was a derivative of theōrós ‘spectator’, which was formed from the base thea- (source also of theásthai ‘watch, look at’, from which English gets theatre).

Also derived from theōrós was theōreín ‘look at’, which formed the basis of theórēma ‘speculation, intuition, theory’, acquired by English via late Latin theōrēma as theorem [16]. From the same source comes theoretical [17].
=> theatre
therapy: therapy: [19] Greek théraps denoted an ‘attendant’. From it was derived the verb therapeúein ‘attend, administer treatment to’, which itself produced two further derivatives: therapeíā ‘treatment’, which gave English therapy, and therapeutés ‘person who administers treatment’, source of the adjective therapeutikós, from which English gets therapeutic [16].
there: there: [OE] There was formed in prehistoric Germanic from the demonstrative base *tha- (which also underlies English that and then) and the suffix -r used in making adverbs of place (it occurs also in English here and where). Its Germanic relatives include German da, Dutch daar, and Swedish and Danish der.
=> here, the, then, where
thermometer: thermometer: [17] Greek thérmē meant ‘heat’ (it came from prehistoric Indo-European *ghwerm-, *ghworm-, which probably also produced English warm). From it was formed French thermomètre (first recorded in 1624), which was borrowed into English in the early 1630s. The same source produced English therm [19] and thermal [18]; and thermos (from the related Greek thermós ‘hot’) was registered as a trademark for a vacuum flask in 1907.
=> warm
thesaurus: thesaurus: see treasure
these: these: [13] The Old English plural of this was thās or thōs. This evolved into those, which came to be used as the plural of that, and it was replaced as the plural of this by thise, formed from this with the plural ending -e, which in due course turned into these.
=> this
thesis: thesis: [14] Greek thésis meant literally a ‘placing’ or ‘laying down’ (it was derived from the verb tithénai ‘put, place’, which also gave English apothecary). It evolved metaphorically to ‘proposition’, and passed in this sense via late Latin thesis into English.
=> apothecary, bodega, boutique
they: they: [12] Like their and them, they was borrowed from Old Norse. Its source was their, the plural form of the demonstrative adjective sá, and it replaced the native Old English pronoun hīe.
=> their, them
thick: thick: [OE] Thick comes from a prehistoric Germanic *thekwia-, which also produced German dick, Dutch dik, Swedish tjock, and Danish tyk. It is related to Welsh tew and Breton teo ‘thick’, but its ultimate antecedents are not known. Thicket [OE] is a derivative.
thief: thief: [OE] Thief goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *theubaz, which also produced German dieb, Dutch dief, Swedish tjuf, and Danish tyv. It is not clear where this came from, although it might be related to Lithuanian tupeti ‘cower, squat’ and Latvian tupt ‘squat’, in which case it would denote etymologically ‘crouching, furtive person’. From *theubaz was derived *thiūbithō, ancestor of modern English theft.
=> theft
thigh: thigh: [OE] The thigh is etymologically the ‘plump’ part of the leg. Together with Dutch dij, it evolved from a prehistoric Germanic *theukham. This went back to Indo-European *teuk-, *tauk-, *tuk-, which also produced Lithuanian táukas ‘fat’. And these in turn were extensions of the base *tu- ‘swell’, source of English thousand, thumb, tumour, etc.
=> thousand, thumb, tumour
thimble: thimble: [OE] A thimble is etymologically a ‘thumb implement’. The word goes back to Old English thymel, a derivative of thūma ‘thumb’. In Old English (where it is recorded only once) it was used for a ‘finger-stall’. By the time it reappears in the 15th century we find it being applied to a ‘leather finger-protector used for pushing in a needle’, and it was extended to metal thimbles, introduced in the 17th century.
=> thumb
thin: thin: [OE] Thin denotes etymologically ‘stretched’. It goes back ultimately to the Indo- European base *ten- ‘stretch’, which also produced Latin tenuis ‘thin’ (source of English tenuous) and Latin tendere ‘stretch’ (source of English tend, tense, etc). From this was descended prehistoric Germanic *thunnuz, which has evolved into German dünn, Dutch dun, Swedish tunn, Danish tynd, and English thin.
=> tend, tense, tenuous
thing: thing: [OE] The ancestral meaning of thing is ‘time’: it goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *thingam, which was related to Gothic theihs ‘time’, and may come ultimately from the Indo- European base *ten- ‘stretch’ (source of English tend, tense, etc). In Germanic it evolved semantically via ‘appointed time’ to ‘judicial or legislative assembly’.

This was the meaning it originally had in English, and it survives in other Germanic languages (the Icelandic parliament is known as the Althing, literally ‘general assembly’). In English, however, it moved on through ‘subject for discussion at such an assembly’ to ‘subject in general, affair, matter’ and finally ‘entity, object’. (The ancient meaning ‘assembly’ is preserved in fossilized form in English husting, etymologically a ‘house assembly’).
=> husting
think: think: [OE] Think goes back to an Old English thencan. This was a variant of thyncan ‘seem, appear’, which survives in the archaic methinks (literally ‘it seems to me’), and so etymologically think probably carries the notion of ‘causing images, reflections, etc to appear to oneself, in one’s brain’. The noun thought comes from the same prehistoric Germanic base as produced the verb (as does English thank). Related Germanic forms include German and Dutch denken, Swedish tänka, and Danish tænke.
=> thank, thought