epochyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[epoch 词源字典]
epoch: [17] Historically, epoch means ‘point in time’, but its particular application to ‘point marking the beginning of a new period of time’ has led increasingly to its use in modern English for simply ‘historical period’. The word comes via modern Latin epocha from Greek epokhé, literally ‘pause, stoppage’, and hence ‘fixed point in time’. This was a derivative of epékhein ‘pause, hold back’, a compound verb formed from the prefix epí- ‘back’ and ékhein ‘hold’ (source of English hectic and related to scheme and sketch).
=> hectic, scheme, sketch[epoch etymology, epoch origin, 英语词源]
epoch (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1610s, epocha, "point marking the start of a new period in time" (such as the founding of Rome, the birth of Christ, the Hegira), from Medieval Latin epocha, from Greek epokhe "stoppage, fixed point of time," from epekhein "to pause, take up a position," from epi "on" (see epi-) + ekhein "to hold" (see scheme (n.)). Transferred sense of "a period of time" is 1620s; geological usage (not a precise measurement) is from 1802.