quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- assert[assert 词源字典]
- assert: [17] Assert comes ultimately from Latin asserere, which meant literally ‘join oneself to something’. It was a compound verb formed from the prefix ad- ‘to’ and serere ‘join’ (source of English series and serial), and it came to take on various metaphorical connotations: if one ‘joined oneself to’ a particular thing, one ‘declared one’s right to’ it, and if one ‘joined oneself to’ a particular point of view, one ‘maintained’ it, or ‘claimed’ it.
The verb was used in both these senses when English acquired it, from the Latin past participial stem assert-, but the former had more or less died out by the end of the 18th century.
=> serial, series[assert etymology, assert origin, 英语词源] - vest
- vest: [17] Vest was originally used fairly generally for a ‘robe’ or ‘gown’. Its earliest specific application was to a ‘sleeveless jacket worn under an outer coat’. It was Charles II of England who introduced the fashion, and the first reference to vest in this sense is in Samuel Pepy’s diary for 8 October 1666: ‘The King hath yesterday, in Council, declared his resolution for setting a fashion in clothes … It will be a vest, I know not well how; but it is to teach the nobility thrift’.
The direct descendant of this is American English vest for ‘waist-coat’. The British application of the word to an undergarment for the upper part of the body did not emerge until the 19th century. The word came via French veste and Italian veste from Latin vestis ‘clothing, garment’. This went back to the Indo- European base *wes-, which also produced English wear.
The derived Latin verb vestīre originally meant ‘clothe’, and hence ‘induct into an office by dressing in the appropriate garments’. It has given English its verb vest [15], as well as divest [17] and invest. Other English words from the same source include travesty, vestment [13], vestry [14], and vesture [14].
=> divest, invest, travesty, vestry, wear - declare (v.)
- early 14c., from Old French declarer "explain, elucidate," or directly from Latin declarare "make clear, reveal, disclose, announce," from de- intensive prefix (see de-) + clarare "clarify," from clarus "clear" (see clear (adj.)). Related: Declared; declaring.
- demolition (n.)
- 1540s, from Old French demolition (14c.) "demolition; defeat, rout," from Latin demolitionem (nominative demolitio), noun of action from past participle stem of demoliri (see demolish). Mencken noted demolition engineer for "house-wrecker" by 1936. Demolition derby is recorded from 1956, American English, defined by OED as "a contest in which old cars are battered into one another, the last one running being declared the winner."
- immaculate (adj.)
- early 15c., "free from mental or moral pollution, pure," from a figurative use of Latin immaculatus "unstained," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + maculatus "spotted, defiled," past participle of maculare "to spot," from macula "spot, blemish." The literal sense of "spotlessly clean or neat" in English is first attested 1735. Immaculate Conception is late 15c., from Middle French conception immaculée (late 15c.); declared to be an article of faith in 1854.
- militia (n.)
- 1580s, "system of military discipline," from Latin militia "military service, warfare," from miles "soldier" (see military). Sense of "citizen army" (as distinct from professional soldiers) is first recorded 1690s, perhaps from a sense in French cognate milice. In U.S. history, "the whole body of men declared by law amenable to military service, without enlistment, whether armed and drilled or not" (1777).
- Munich
- Bavarian capital, German München, from root of Mönch "monk" (see monk); founded 1158 as a market town by Benedictine monks. In allusions to "appeasement" it is from the meeting of German, British, French and Italian representatives there in Sept. 29, 1938, which resulted in the cession of Sudetenland to Germany in exchange for Hitler's pledges.
During the flight Daladier sat silent and morose, worried about the reception he would receive at Le Bourget, about how the French would react to his having betrayed Czechoslovakia and France's promises. As the plane circled for landing, he and others saw a massive crowd awaiting them. Expecting jeers, hisses, rotten fruit, and maybe worse, Daladier declared stolidly: 'They are going to mob me, I suppose. ... I appreciate their feelings,' and insisted on absorbing their wrath by being the first off the plane. But as he stood dumbfounded on the gangplank, thousands surged forward carrying flags and flowers, shouting 'Hurrah for France! Hurrah for England! Hurrah for peace!' Daladier turned back to Léger and cursed, 'The God-damned fools!' [Benjamin F. Martin, "France in 1938"]
- profess (v.)
- early 14c., "to take a vow" (in a religious order), a back-formation from profession or else from Old French profes, from Medieval Latin professus "avowed," literally "having declared publicly," past participle of Latin profiteri "declare openly, testify voluntarily, acknowledge, make public statement of," from pro- "forth" (see pro-) + fateri (past participle fassus) "acknowledge, confess," akin to fari "to speak," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (see fame (n.)). Meaning "declare openly" first recorded 1520s, "a direct borrowing of the sense from Latin" [Barnhart]. Related: Professed; professing.
- professed (adj.)
- "openly declared," 1560s, past participle adjective from profess. Earlier in a more specific sense of "having taken vows of a religious order" (late 14c.). Related: Professedly.
- Protestant (n., adj.)
- 1539, from German or French protestant, from Latin protestantem (nominative protestans), present participle of protestari (see protest (n.)). Originally used of German princes and free cities who declared their dissent from ("protested") the decision of the Diet of Speyer (1529), which reversed the liberal terms allowed Lutherans in 1526.
When forced to make their choice between obedience to God and obedience to the Emperor, they were compelled to choose the former. [Thomas M. Lindsay, "A History of the Reformation," New York, 1910]
The word was taken up by the Lutherans in Germany (Swiss and French preferred Reformed). It became the general word for "adherents of the Reformation in Germany," then "member of any Western church outside the Roman communion;" a sense first attested in English in 1553.In the 17c., 'protestant' was primarily opposed to 'papist,' and thus accepted by English Churchmen generally; in more recent times, being generally opposed to 'Roman Catholic,' or ... to 'Catholic,' ... it is viewed with disfavour by those who lay stress on the claim of the Anglican Church to be equally Catholic with the Roman. [OED]
Often contemptuous shortened form Prot is from 1725, in Irish English. Protestant (work) ethic (1926) is taken from Max Weber's work "Die protestantische Ethik und der 'Geist' des Kapitalismus" (1904). Protestant Reformation attested by 1680s. - truthiness (n.)
- "act or quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than those known to be true," a catch word popularized in this sense by U.S. comedian Stephen Colbert (b.1964), declared by American Dialect Society to be "2005 Word of the Year." It was used in 1832 in a sense "habit of telling the truth," from truthy "characterized by truth" (1800), from truth (n.) + -y (2).
- vest (n.)
- 1610s, "loose outer garment" (worn by men in Eastern countries or in ancient times), from French veste "a vest, jacket" (17c.), from Italian vesta, veste "robe, gown," from Latin vestis "clothing," from vestire "to clothe" (see vest (v.)). The sleeveless garment worn by men beneath the coat was introduced by Charles II in a bid to rein in men's attire at court, which had grown extravagant and decadent in the French mode.
The King hath yesterday, in Council, declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes .... It will be a vest, I know not well how; but it is to teach the nobility thrift. [Pepys, "Diary," Oct. 8, 1666]
Louis XIV of France is said to have mocked the effort by putting his footmen in such vests. - witchcraft (n.)
- Old English wiccecræft "witchcraft, magic," from wicce (see witch) + cræft "power, skill" (see craft). Witchcraft was declared a crime in English law in 1542; trials there peaked in 1580s and 1640s but fell sharply after 1660. The last, in 1717, ended in acquittal. The Witchcraft Act was repealed 1736.
- predicative
- "(Of an adjective or noun) forming or contained in the predicate, as old in the dog is old (but not in the old dog) and house in there is a large house", Mid 19th century: from Latin praedicativus, from praedicat- 'declared' (in medieval Latin 'predicated'), from the verb praedicare (see predicate).