英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bean [bean 词源字典]: bean: [OE] The word bean (Old English bēan) has relatives in several Germanic languages (German bohne, Dutch boon, Swedish böna), pointing to a common West and North Germanic source *baunō, but that is as far back in history as we can pursue it. Beanfeast [19] apparently derived from the practice of serving bacon and beans (or, according to some, bean geese, a species of goose) at the annual dinners given by firms to their employees in the 19th century. Beano, originally a printers’ abbreviation, appears towards the end of the 19th century.
[bean etymology, bean origin, 英语词源]
carat: carat: [16] The carat gets its name from the use of carob beans as standard weights for measuring the heaviness of small quantities. The Greek name for the elongated seed pod of the carob tree was kerátion, a derivative of kéras ‘horn’ (related to English horn). This passed into Arabic as qīrāt, where it became formalized in a system of weights and measures as ‘four grains’. It passed into English via Italian carato and French carat.
=> horn
cocoa: cocoa: [18] Like chocolate, cocoa came to English from the Nahuatl language of the Aztec people. Their cacahuatl meant ‘beans of the cocoa tree’. Its first element was borrowed into Spanish as cacao. This was adopted by English in the 16th century, and remained the standard form until the 18th century, when it was modified to cocoa. Originally it was pronounced with three syllables (/ko-ko-a/), but confusion with the coco of coconut (which was also sometimes spelled cocoa) led to the current twosyllable pronunciation.
espresso: espresso: [20] Etymologically, espresso is coffee that has been ‘pressed out’. The word comes from Italian caffè espresso, literally ‘pressed-out coffee’, which refers to the way in which the coffee is made by forcing pressurized steam or boiling water through the finely ground beans. Espresso is the past participle of esprimere ‘press out’, from Latin exprimere – which is also the source of English express.
pulse: pulse: English has two separate words pulse. The older, ‘seeds of beans, lentils, etc’ [13], comes via Old French pols from Latin puls ‘thick gruel (often made from beans and the like)’. This was a relative of Latin pollen ‘flour’ (source of English pollen) and Latin pulvis ‘powder’ (source of English powder and pulverize).

Its plural pultes has given English poultice [16]. Pulse ‘beat of the blood’ [14], comes via Old French pouls from Latin pulsus ‘beating’, a noun use of the past participle of pellere ‘drive, beat’ (source of English appeal, compel [14], dispel [17], expel [14], propel [15], and repel [15]). The derivative pulsāre gave English pulsate [18], and also push.
=> pollen, poultice, powder, pulverize; appeal, compel, dispel, expel, propel, pulsate, push, repel
soy: soy: [17] Chinese shi-yu is the ultimate source of soy (shi means ‘salted beans’ and yu means ‘oil’). Japanese adopted the term as shō-yu, whose colloquial form soy was borrowed by English at the end of the 17th century. Dutch acquired shō-yu as soja, from which English gets soya [17].
bake (v.): Old English bacan "to bake," from Proto-Germanic *bakan "to bake" (cognates: Old Norse baka, Middle Dutch backen, Old High German bahhan, German backen), from PIE *bheg- (source also of Greek phogein "to roast"), extended form of root *bhe- "to warm" (see bath). Related: Baked (Middle English had baken); baking. Baked beans attested by 1803.
bean (n.): Old English bean "bean, pea, legume," from Proto-Germanic *bauno (cognates: Old Norse baun, Middle Dutch bone, Dutch boon, Old High German bona, German Bohne), and related to Latin faba "bean;" Greek phakos "lentil;" Albanian bathë "horse-bean;" Old Prussian babo, Russian bob "bean," but the original form is obscure; perhaps from a PIE reduplicated base *bha-bha-

As a metaphor for "something of small value" it is attested from c. 1300. Meaning "head" is U.S. baseball slang c. 1905 (in bean-ball "a pitch thrown at the head"); thus slang verb bean meaning "to hit on the head," attested from 1910.

The notion of lucky or magic beans in English folklore is from the exotic beans or large seeds that wash up occasionally in Cornwall and western Scotland, carried from the Caribbean or South America by the Gulf Stream. They were cherished, believed to ward off the evil eye and aid in childbirth.

Slang bean-counter "accountant" recorded by 1971. To not know beans (American English, 1933) is perhaps from the "of little worth" sense, but may have a connection to colloquial expression recorded around Somerset, to know how many beans make five "be a clever fellow."
carat (n.): also karat, mid-15c., from Middle French carat "measure of the fineness of gold" (14c.), from Italian carato or Medieval Latin carratus, both from Arabic qirat "fruit of the carob tree," also "weight of 4 grains," from Greek keration "carob seed," also the name of a small weight of measure (one-third obol), literally "little horn" diminutive of keras "horn" (see kerato-).

Carob beans were a standard for weighing small quantities. As a measure of diamond weight, from 1570s in English. The Greek measure was the equivalent of the Roman siliqua, which was one-twentyfourth of a golden solidus of Constantine; hence karat took on a sense of "a proportion of one twentyfourth" and became a measure of gold purity (1550s). Eighteen carat gold is eighteen parts gold, six parts alloy. It is unlikely that the classical carat ever was a measure of weight for gold.
coffee (n.): c. 1600, from Italian caffe, from Turkish kahveh, from Arabic qahwah "coffee," said originally to have meant "wine," but perhaps rather from Kaffa region of Ethiopia, a home of the plant (coffee in Kaffa is called buno, which was borrowed into Arabic as bunn "raw coffee"). Much initial diversity of spelling, including chaoua.

Yemen was the first great coffee exporter and to protect its trade decreed that no living plant could leave the country. In 16c., a Muslim pilgrim brought some coffee beans from Yemen and raised them in India. Appeared in Europe (from Arabia) c. 1515-1519. Introduced to England by 1650, and by 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses. Coffee plantations established in Brazil 1727. Meaning "a light meal at which coffee is served" is from 1774. Coffee break attested from 1952, at first often in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau. Coffee pot from 1705.
Did you drink a cup of coffee on company time this morning? Chances are that you did--for the midmorning coffee break is rapidly becoming a standard fixture in American offices and factories. ["The Kiplinger Magazine," March 1952]
Eskimo (n.): 1580s, from Danish Eskimo or Middle French Esquimaux (plural), both probably from an Algonquian word, such as Abenaki askimo (plural askimoak), Ojibwa ashkimeq, traditionally said to mean literally "eaters of raw meat," from Proto-Algonquian *ask- "raw" + *-imo "eat." Research from 1980s in linguistics of the region suggests this derivation, though widely credited there, might be inaccurate or incomplete, and the word might mean "snowshoe-netter." See also Innuit. Of language, from 1819. As an adjective by 1744. Eskimo pie "chocolate-coated ice cream bar" introduced 1922 and was initially a craze that drove up the price of cocoa beans on the New York market 50 percent in three months [F.L. Allen, "Only Yesterday," 1931].
fierce (adj.): mid-13c., "proud, noble, bold, haughty," from Old French fers, fiers, nominative form of fer, fier "strong, overwhelming, violent, fierce, wild; proud, mighty, great, impressive" (Modern French fier "proud, haughty"), from Latin ferus "wild, untamed, uncultivated; waste, desert;" figuratively "wild, uncultivated, savage, cruel," from PIE root *ghwer- "wild; wild animal" (cognates: Greek ther, Old Church Slavonic zveri, Lithuanian zveris "wild beast").

Meaning "ferocious, wild, savage, cruel" of persons is from c. 1300; of beasts from late 14c. Original English sense of "brave, proud" died out 16c., but while this sense was current fierce often was used in English as an epithet (and thus surname), which accounts for the rare instance of a French word entering English in the nominative case. Related: Fiercely; fierceness. In Middle English sometimes also "dangerous, destructive; great, strong; huge (in number)." An early 15c. medical treatise has fers benes for "wild beans."
frank (n.): short for frankfurter, by 1916, American English. Franks and beans attested by 1953.
frijoles (n.): Mexican kidney beans, 1570s, from Spanish frijoles (plural) "beans," from Latin phaseolus, phaselus "kidney bean," from Greek phaselos a name for a kind of bean.
gruel (n.): late 12c., "meal or flour made of beans, lentils, etc.," from Old French gruel "fine meal" (Modern French gruau), a diminutive form from Frankish *grut or another Germanic source, cognate with Middle Dutch grute "coarse meal, malt;" Middle High German gruz "grain," from PIE *ghreu- "to rub, grind" (see grit (n.)). Meaning "thin porridge or soup" is late 14c.
parch (v.): late 14c., "to roast or dry" (peas, beans, corn, etc.), of uncertain origin. Klein and OED reject derivations from Old North French perchier (Old French percer) "to pierce" and Latin persiccare "to dry thoroughly." Barnhart suggests possibly from Middle English perchen, variant of perishen "to perish" (see perish). Klein "tentatively" suggests a back-formation from parchment. Surname Parchecorn is attested from mid-14c. Meaning "to dry with excessive heat" is mid-15c. Related: Parched; parching.
pod (n.1): "seed of beans," 1680s, of uncertain origin; found earlier in podware "seed of legumes, seed grain" (mid-15c.), which had a parallel form codware "husked or seeded plants" (late 14c.), related to cod "husk of seeded plants," which was in Old English. In reference to pregnancy from 1890; in reference to a round belly from 1825. Meaning "detachable body of an aircraft" is from 1950. Pod people (1956) is from movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," based on novel by Jack Finney.
pulse (n.2): "peas, beans, lentils," late 13c., from Old French pouls, pols and directly from Latin puls "thick gruel, porridge, mush," probably via Etruscan, from Greek poltos "porridge" made from flour, from PIE *pel- (1) "dust, flour" (see pollen; also compare poultice).
Pyanepsia (n.): festival in honor of Apollo on the 7th of Pyanepsion (fourth month of the Attic calendar, corresponding to October-November), from Greek Pyanepsia (plural), literally "the feast of cooking beans," from pyanos, name of a kind of bean, of unknown origin, + epsein "to boil, cook." At this festival a dish of pulse was offered to the god.
refry (v.): 1957, in refried beans, which translates Spanish frijoles refritos. From re- + fry (v.).
soy (n.): 1670s, saio "soybean-based Asian fish sauce," from Dutch soya, from Japanese soyu, variant of shoyu "soy," from Chinese shi-yu, from shi "fermented soy beans" + yu "oil." Etymology reflects Dutch presence in Japan before English and American merchants began to trade there.
spill (v.): Old English spillan "destroy, mutilate, kill," also in late Old English "to waste," variant of spildan "destroy," from Proto-Germanic *spilthjan (cognates: Old High German spildan "to spill," Old Saxon spildian "destroy, kill," Old Norse spilla "to destroy," Danish spilde "lose, spill, waste," Middle Dutch spillen "to waste, spend"), from PIE *spel- (1) "to split, break off" (cognates: Middle Dutch spalden, Old High German spaltan "to split;" Greek aspalon "skin, hide," spolas "flayed skin;" Lithuanian spaliai "shives of flax;" Old Church Slavonic rasplatiti "to cleave, split;" Middle Low German spalden, Old High German spaltan "to split;" Sanskrit sphatayati "splits").

Sense of "let (liquid) fall or run out" developed mid-14c. from use of the word in reference to shedding blood (early 14c.). Intransitive sense "to run out and become wasted" is from 1650s. Spill the beans recorded by 1910 in a sense of "spoil the situation;" 1919 as "reveal a secret." To cry for spilt milk (usually with negative) is attested from 1738. Related: Spilled; spilt; spilling.
succotash (n.): 1751, from a word in a Southern New England Algonquian language, such as Narragansett misckquatash "boiled whole kernels of corn." Used by 1793 in New England in reference to a dish of boiled corn and green beans (especially lima beans).
tofu (n.): soy bean curd, 1876, from Japanese tofu, from Chinese doufu, from dou "beans" + fu "rotten."
triage (n.): 1727, "action of assorting according to quality," from French triage "a picking out, sorting" (14c.), from Old French trier "to pick, cull" (see try (v.)). There seems to be some influence from or convergence with Latin tria "three" (as in triage for "coffee beans of the third or lowest quality"). In World War I, adopted for the sorting of wounded soldiers into groups according to the severity of their injuries, from French use.
First of all, the wounded man, or "blessé, is carried into the first of the so-called "Salles de Triage" or sorting wards. Here his name and regimental number, and if he is in condition to give it, the address of his family are taken; .... Then a hasty look-over from the surgeon sends him into one of the two other "Salles de Triage" -- that of the "Petits Blessés" if he is only slightly wounded and that of the "Grands Blessés" if he is more severely so. [Woods Hutchinson, M.D., "The Doctor in War," Boston, 1918]
zydeco (n.): 1949, perhaps from Creole French pronunciation of French les haricots "the beans," part of the title of a popular dance tune ("les haricots sont pas salés").
castor oil: "A pale yellow oil obtained from castor beans, used as a purgative, a lubricant, and in manufacturing oil-based products", Mid 18th century: perhaps so named because it succeeded castor² in medicinal use.
chilli con carne: "A stew of minced beef and beans flavoured with chillies or chilli powder", From Spanish chile con carne, literally 'chilli pepper with meat'.
cassoulet: "A French stew made with meat (typically pork, goose, and duck) and beans", French, diminutive of dialect cassolo 'stew pan', from Old Provençal cassa 'pan'; related to casserole.
beanfeast: "A celebratory party with plentiful food and drink", Early 19th century: from bean + feast. The term originally denoted an annual dinner given to employees by their employers, where beans and bacon were regarded as an indispensable dish.
edamame: "A Japanese dish of salted green soybeans boiled in their pods, typically served as a snack or appetizer", Japanese, literally 'beans on a branch'.