quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- foot[foot 词源字典]
- foot: [OE] Foot traces its ancestry back to Indo- European *pōd-, *ped-, which provided the word for ‘foot’ in most modern Indo-European languages (the exceptions are the Slavic languages, whose ‘foot’ – words, such as Russian noga and Czech noha, come from a source that meant ‘claw’, and the Celtic languages – such as Welsh troed and Irish troigh).
Descendants include Greek poús ‘foot’ (whence English antipodes, pew, podium [18], and tripod, literally ‘three-footed’, a formation mirrored exactly by Latin trivet [15] and Hindi teapoy [19]), Persian pāē or pay (whence English pyjama), Sanskrit pádas ‘foot’ (source of pie ‘unit of Indian currency’), and Lithuanian pedà ‘footstep’, but the most fruitful of all from the point of view of the English lexicon has been Latin pēs, source of impede, pawn ‘chess piece’, pedal, pedestal, pedestrian, pedicure, pedigree, pedometer, peon, pioneer, quadruped, vamp, and velocipede (it also, of course, gave French pied, Italian piede, and Spanish pie).
Its Germanic descendant was *fōr-, which produced German fuss, Dutch voet, Swedish fot, Danish fod, and English foot. Other related forms in English include pilot and trapeze.
=> antipodes, impede, pawn, pedal, pedestal, pedestrian, pedigree, pilot, pioneer, podium, pyjamas, quadruped, trapeze, tripod, vamp[foot etymology, foot origin, 英语词源] - pad
- pad: [16] English has two words pad, both of them borrowed from Low German or Dutch. The ancestral meaning of pad ‘cushion’ seems to be ‘sole of the foot’, although that sense did not emerge in English until the 18th century. Flemish pad and Low German pad both denote ‘sole’, as does the presumably related Lithuanian pādas. Pad ‘tread, walk’ comes from Low German padden, a descendant of the same Germanic source as produced English path.
It was originally a slang term used by 16th- and 17th-century highwayman, muggers, and the like, and its corresponding noun pad survives in footpad [17]. Paddle ‘walk in shallow water’ [16] comes from a Low German or Dutch derivative (the other paddle, ‘oar, bat’ [15], is of unknown origin).
=> paddle, path - spade
- spade: English has two words spade, but they are ultimately related. Spade for digging [OE] comes from a Low German source, which also produced Dutch spade. This went back to, or shared a common source with, Greek spáthē ‘broad blade’, which was borrowed into Latin as spatha ‘broad flat instrument’ (source of the English botanical term spathe [18]).
This in turn passed into Italian as spada ‘broad sword’, whose plural spade gave English the playingcard symbol spade [16]. The corresponding French term is épée ‘sword’, adopted by English as a fencing term in the 19th century; and its Old French precursor espee is the ultimate source of English spay [15]. The diminutive form of Latin spatha was spathula, from which English gets spatula [16].
=> spathe, spatula, spay, spoon - apothecary (n.)
- mid-14c., "shopkeeper, especially one who stores, compounds, and sells medicaments," from Old French apotecaire (13c., Modern French apothicaire), from Late Latin apothecarius "storekeeper," from Latin apotheca "storehouse," from Greek apotheke "barn, storehouse," literally "a place where things are put away," from apo- "away" (see apo-) + tithenai "to put, to place" (see theme). Same root produced French boutique and Spanish bodega. Cognate compounds produced Sanskrit apadha- "concealment," Old Persian apadana- "palace."
Drugs and herbs being among the chief items of non-perishable goods, the meaning narrowed 17c. to "druggist" (Apothecaries' Company of London separated from the Grocers' in 1617). Apothecaries formerly were notorious for "the assumed gravity and affectation of knowledge generally put on by the gentlemen of this profession, who are commonly as superficial in their learning as they are pedantic in their language" [Francis Grose, "A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1796]. Hence, Apothecary's Latin, barbarously mangled, also known as Dog Latin.
- Cappadocia (n.)
- ancient name for the region roughly corresponding to modern Turkey, from Greek Kappadokía, perhaps ultimately from Persian Hvaspadakhim "land of fine horses." In ancient Athens, Cappadocians were notorious as knaves and cowards, but the region's horses were celebrated.
- escapade (n.)
- 1650s, "an escape from confinement," from French escapade (16c.) "a prank or trick," from Spanish escapada "a prank, flight, an escape," noun use of fem. past participle of escapar "to escape," from Vulgar Latin *excappare (see escape (v.)). Or perhaps the French word is via Italian scappata, from scappare, from the same Vulgar Latin source. Figurative sense (1814) implies a "breaking loose" from rules or restraints on behavior.
- foot (n.)
- "terminal part of the leg of a vertebrate animal," Old English fot "foot," from Proto-Germanic *fot (cognates: Old Frisian fot, Old Saxon fot, Old Norse fotr, Danish fod, Swedish fot, Dutch voet, Old High German fuoz, German Fuß, Gothic fotus "foot"), from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (cognates: Avestan pad-; Sanskrit pad-, accusative padam "foot;" Greek pos, Attic pous, genitive podos; Latin pes, genitive pedis "foot;" Lithuanian padas "sole," peda "footstep"). Plural form feet is an instance of i-mutation.
The linear measure was in Old English (the exact length has varied over time), this being considered the length of a man's foot; a unit of measure used widely and anciently. In this sense the plural is often foot. The current inch and foot are implied from measurements in 12c. English churches (Flinders Petrie, "Inductive Metrology"), but the most usual length of a "foot" in medieval England was the foot of 13.2 inches common throughout the ancient Mediterranean. The Anglo-Saxon foot apparently was between the two. All three correspond to units used by the Romans, and possibly all three lengths were picked up by the Anglo-Saxons from the Romano-Britons. "That the Saxon units should descend to mediæval times is most probable, as the Normans were a ruling, and not a working, class." [Flinders Petrie, 1877]. The medieval Paul's Foot (late 14c.) was a measuring standard cut into the base of a column at the old St. Paul's cathedral in London. The metrical foot (late Old English, translating Latin pes, Greek pous in the same sense) is commonly taken to represent one rise and one fall of a foot: keeping time according to some, dancing according to others.
In Middle English also "a person" (c. 1200), hence non-foot "nobody." Meaning "bottom or lowest part of anything eminent or upright" is from c. 1200. Of a bed, grave, etc., from c. 1300. On foot "by walking" is from c. 1300. To get off on the wrong foot is from 1905 (the right foot is by 1907); to put one's best foot foremost first recorded 1849 (Shakespeare has the better foot before, 1596); Middle English had evil-foot (adv.) "through mischance, unluckily." To put one's foot in (one's) mouth "say something stupid" is attested by 1942; the expression put (one's) foot in something "make a mess of it" is from 1823. To have one foot in the grave "be near death" is from 1844. Colloquial exclamation my foot! expressing "contemptuous contradiction" [OED] is attested by 1923, probably euphemistic for my ass in the same sense, which dates to 1796 (also see eyewash). - spade (n.1)
- "tool for digging," Old English spadu "spade," from Proto-Germanic *spadan (cognates: Old Frisian spada "a spade," Middle Dutch spade "a sword," Old Saxon spado, Middle Low German spade, German Spaten), from PIE *spe-dh-, from root *spe- (2) "long, flat piece of wood" (cognates: Greek spathe "wooden blade, paddle," Old English spon "chip of wood, splinter," Old Norse spann "shingle, chip;" see spoon (n.)).
"A spade differs from a two-handed shovel chiefly in the form and thickness of the blade" [Century Dictionary]. To call a spade a spade "use blunt language, call things by right names" (1540s) translates a Greek proverb (known to Lucian), ten skaphen skaphen legein "to call a bowl a bowl," but Erasmus mistook Greek skaphe "trough, bowl" for a derivative of the stem of skaptein "to dig," and the mistake has stuck [see OED]. - spade (n.2)
- black figure on playing cards," 1590s, probably from Italian spade, plural of spada "the ace of spades," literally "sword, spade," from Latin spatha "broad, flat weapon or tool," from Greek spathe "broad blade" (see spade (n.1)). Phrase in spades "in abundance" first recorded 1929 (Damon Runyon), probably from bridge, where spades are the highest-ranking suit.
The invitations to the musicale came sliding in by pairs and threes and spade flushes. [O.Henry, "Cabbages & Kings," 1904]
Derogatory meaning "black person" is 1928, from the color of the playing card symbol. - warm (adj.)
- Old English wearm "warm," from Proto-Germanic *warmaz (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Old High German, German warm, Old Norse varmr, Gothic warmjan "to warm"), of uncertain origin. On one guess it is from PIE *gwher- (cognates: Sanskrit gharmah "heat;" Old Persian Garmapada-, name of the fourth month, corresponding to June/July, from garma- "heat;" Armenian jerm "warm;" Greek thermos "warm;" Latin formus "warm," fornax "oven;" Old Irish fogeir "heated;" Hittite war- "to burn"). On another guess it is connected to the source of Old Church Slavonic goriti "to burn," varŭ "heat," variti "to cook, boil;" and Lithuanian vérdu "to seethe."
The use of distinct words, based on degree of heat, for warm and hot is general in Balto-Slavic and Germanic, but in other languages one word often covers both (Greek thermos; Latin calidus, French chaud, Spanish caliente). In reference to feelings, etc., attested from late 15c. Of colors from 1764. Sense in guessing games first recorded 1860, from earlier hunting use in reference to scent or trail (1713). Warm-blooded in reference to mammals is recorded from 1793. Warm-hearted first recorded c. 1500.