英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

draconian [draconian 词源字典]: draconian: [18] Draconian ‘excessively harsh’ is a monument to the severe code of laws drawn up in 621 BC by the Athenian statesman Draco. Its purpose was to banish inequities in the system which were leading at the time to rumblings and threats of rebellion among the common people, and to an extent it succeeded, but all it is now remembered for is its almost pathological harshness: the most trivial infraction was punished with death. When taxed with his laws’ severity, Draco is said to have replied ‘Small crimes deserve death, and for great crimes I know of no penalty severer’.
[draconian etymology, draconian origin, 英语词源]
sentiment: sentiment: [17] Sentiment comes via Old French sentiment from medieval Latin sentīmentum ‘feeling’, a derivative of Latin sentīre ‘feel’ (from which English gets sensation, sense, sentence, etc). It originally meant ‘feeling’ and ‘opinion’ (the former now defunct, the latter surviving with a somewhat old-fashioned air in such expressions as ‘My sentiments exactly!’). The sense ‘(excessively) refined feeling’ did not emerge until the mid-18th century.
=> sense
beau (n.): "attendant suitor of a lady," 1720, from French beau "the beautiful," noun use of an adjective, from Old French bel "beautiful, handsome, fair, genuine, real" (11c.), from Latin bellus "handsome, fine, pretty, agreeable," diminutive of bonus "good" (see bene-). Meaning "man who attends excessively to dress, etiquette, etc.; a fop; a dandy" is from 1680s, short for French beau garçon "pretty boy" (1660s).
blabber (v.): mid-14c., "to speak as an infant speaks," frequentative of blabben, of echoic origin (compare Old Norse blabbra, Danish blabbre "babble," German plappern "to babble"). Meaning "to talk excessively" is from late 14c. Related: Blabbered; blabbering.
bleeding heart (n.): type of flowering plant, so called from 1690s. In the sense of "person excessively sympathetic" (especially toward those the speaker deems not to deserve it) is attested by 1951, but said by many to have been popularized with reference to liberals (especially Eleanor Roosevelt) in 1930s by newspaper columnist Westbrook Pegler (1894-1969), though quotations are wanting; bleeding in a figurative sense of "generous" is from late 16c., and the notion of one's heart bleeding as a figure of emotional anguish is from late 14c., but the exact image here may be the "bleeding heart of Jesus."
busy (adj.): Old English bisig "careful, anxious," later "continually employed or occupied," cognate with Old Dutch bezich, Low German besig; no known connection with any other Germanic or Indo-European language. Still pronounced as in Middle English, but for some unclear reason the spelling shifted to -u- in 15c.

The notion of "anxiousness" has drained from the word since Middle English. Often in a bad sense in early Modern English, "prying, meddlesome" (preserved in busybody). The word was a euphemism for "sexually active" in 17c. Of telephone lines, 1893. Of display work, "excessively detailed, visually cluttered," 1903.
exceed (v.): late 14c., from Old French exceder (14c.) "exceed, surpass, go too far," from Latin excedere "depart, go beyond, be in excess, surpass," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + cedere "go, yield" (see cede). Related: Exceeded; exceeding. Exceedingly (late 15c.) means "very greatly or very much;" excessively (mid-15c.) means "too greatly or too much."
excessive (adj.): late 14c., from Old French excessif "excessive, oppressive," from Latin excess-, past participle stem of excedere "to depart, go beyond" (see exceed). Related: Excessively; excessiveness.
fulsome (adj.): mid-13c., "abundant, plentiful," Middle English compound of ful "full" (see full (adj.)) + -som "to a considerable degree" (see -some (1)). Perhaps a case of ironic understatement. Sense extended to "plump, well-fed" (mid-14c.), then "arousing disgust" (similar to the feeling of having over-eaten), late 14c. Via the sense of "causing nausea" it came to be used of language, "offensive to taste or good manners" (early 15c.); especially "excessively flattering" (1660s). Since the 1960s, however, it commonly has been used in its original, favorable sense, especially in fulsome praise. Related: Fulsomely; fulsomeness.
greed (n.): "excessively eager desire to possess," c. 1600, a back-formation from greedy.
grossly (adv.): 1520s, "plainly, obviously," from gross (adj.) + -ly (2). Meaning "coarsely, shamefully" is from 1540s; that of "excessively" is from 1610s.
hardly (adv.): c. 1200, "in a hard manner, with great exertion or effort," from Old English heardlice "sternly, severely, harshly; bravely; excessively" (see hard (adj.) + -ly (2)). Hence "assuredly, certainly" (early 14c.). Main modern sense of "barely, just" (1540s) reverses this, via the intermediate meaning "not easily, with trouble" (early 15c.). Formerly with superficial negative (not hardly). Similar formation in Old Saxon hardliko, German härtlich, Old Danish haardelig.
jangle (v.): c. 1300, jangeln, "to talk excessively, chatter, talk idly," from Old French jangler "to chatter, gossip, bawl, argue noisily" (12c.), perhaps from Frankish *jangelon "to jeer" or some other Germanic source (compare Middle Dutch jangelen "to whine"). Meaning "make harsh noise" is first recorded late 15c. Related: Jangled; jangling.
neatnik (n.): "excessively tidy person," 1959, from neat (adj.) with a punning play on beatnik.
nimiety (n.): "excess, redundancy," from Latin nimietas "excessiveness," from nimius "beyond measure, excessive," from nimis (adv.) "too much, beyond measure, excessively."
overboard (adv.): "over the side of a ship," Old English ofor bord, from over + bord "side of a ship" (see board (n.2)). Figurative sense of "excessively, beyond one's means" (especially in phrase go overboard) first attested 1931 in Damon Runyon.
overlong (adj.): "excessively long," early 14c., from over- + long (adj.). Middle English also had overshort "too short, too brief."
overly (adv.): "excessively," Old English oferlice; see over + -ly (2). Often "regarded as an Americanism in the U.K." [OED].
overprice (v.): "to price (something) excessively high," c. 1600, from over- + price (v.). Related: Overpriced; overpricing.
prude (n.): 1704, "woman who affects or upholds modesty in a degree considered excessive," from French prude "excessively prim or demure woman," first recorded in Molière. Perhaps a false back-formation or an ellipsis of preudefemme "a discreet, modest woman," from Old French prodefame "noblewoman, gentlewoman; wife, consort," fem. equivalent of prudhomme "a brave man" (see proud); or perhaps a direct noun use of the French adjective prude "prudish," from Old French prude, prode, preude "good, virtuous, modest," a feminine form of the adjective preux. Also occasionally as an adjective in English 18c.
satyriasis (n.): "excessively great venereal desire in the male," 1650s, medical Latin, from Greek satyriasis, from satyros (see satyr). Also in same sense satyromania (1889).
severely (adv.): 1540s, from severe + -ly (2). Colloquial sense of "excessively" attested by 1854.
uxorious (adj.): "excessively fond of or submissive to one's wife," 1590s, from Latin uxorius "of or pertaining to a wife," also "devoted to a wife" or "ruled by a wife," from uxor (genitive uxoris) "wife," according to Watkins from PIE *uk-sor- "'she who gets accustomed" (to a new household)' after patrilocal marriage."
narcissine: "Of the nature of or resembling Narcissus, the youth of Greek mythology; loving or admiring oneself excessively, narcissistic", Mid 17th cent.; earliest use found in Thomas Blount (1618–1679), antiquary and lexicographer. From classical Latin narcissinus of the plant narcissus (Pliny) from Hellenistic Greek ναρκίσσινος from νάρκισσος + -ινος.
ad extremum: "To the ultimate extent or degree; excessively", Mid 17th cent.; earliest use found in John Sadler (1615–1674), political theorist and reformer. From classical Latin ad extremum at or to the end from ad at, to + extrēmum (accusative), use as noun of neuter of extrēmus.
over-lusty: "Too lusty, excessively lusty", Late 15th cent. From over- + lusty.