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buffer [buffer 词源字典]: buffer: Neither buffer ‘fellow’ [18] nor buffer ‘shock absorber’ [19] can be traced back with any certainty to a source, but the likeliest conjecture is that they both come (independently) from an obsolete English verb buff, which was probably originally (like puff) imitative of the sound of blowing or breathing out. The earliest recorded sense of this, in the late 13th century, was ‘stammer’, and so the human buffer may originally have been a ‘stammerer’. By the 16th century we find the verb being used in the sense ‘make the sound of something soft being hit’, which is a likely source of buffer ‘shock absorber’.
[buffer etymology, buffer origin, 英语词源]
cockchafer: cockchafer: [18] Etymologically, cockchafer (a medium-sized beetle) is probably a ‘large gnawer’. The second part of the word, which goes back to Old English times (ceafor), can be traced to a prehistoric base *kab- ‘gnaw’, source also of English jowl. The first element, cock, may be an allusion to the species’ greater size in relation to other chafers.
=> jowl
coniferous: coniferous: see cone
defer: defer: English has two distinct verbs defer. The one meaning ‘delay’ [14] is ultimately the same words as differ. It comes via Old French differer from Latin differre ‘carry apart, delay’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and ferre ‘carry’ (related to English bear). The Latin verb’s past participle, dīlātus, is the source of English dilatory [15]. Defer ‘submit’ [15] comes via Old French deferer from Latin dēferre ‘carry away’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and ferre.

The notion of submission seems to have arisen from an earlier application to referring, or ‘carrying’, a matter to someone else.
=> bear, dilatory
different: different: [14] English acquired different via Old French different from different-, the present participial stem of Latin differre, a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and ferre ‘carry’ (related to English bear). Latin differre had two distinct strands of meaning that sprang from the original literal ‘carry apart, scatter, disperse, separate’: one was ‘put off, delay’, from which English gets defer; the other ‘become or be unlike’, whence English differ [14] and different. The derived indifferent [14] originally meant ‘not differentiating or discriminating’.
=> bear, dilatory
duffer: duffer: see deaf
effervescent: effervescent: see fervent
feral: feral: see fierce
ferment: ferment: see fervent
fern: fern: [OE] Fern is a fairly widespread Indo- European word, represented among the other West Germanic languages by German farn and Dutch varen. It comes ultimately from Indo- European *porno-. This also produced Sanskrit parnám, which meant ‘feather’ as well as ‘leaf’, suggesting that the fern may have been named originally from the feathery leaves of some species.
ferocious: ferocious: [17] Etymologically, ferocious means ‘wild-eyed’. It comes from Latin ferox, which was originally a compound formed from ferus ‘fierce, wild’ (source of English feral [17]) and an element -oc-, -ox meaning ‘looking, appearing’. This also appears in atrocious and ocular, and goes back to an Indo-European source which also produced Greek ōps ‘eye’ and English eye.
=> atrocious, eye, feral, ocular
ferret: ferret: [14] A ferret is, from an etymological point of view, a ‘thieving animal’. The word comes via Old French fuiret or furet from Vulgar Latin *fūrittus, literally ‘little thief’. This was a derivative of Latin fūr ‘thief’, which is related to English furtive. The verbal senses ‘search about’ and ‘search out’ developed in the 16th century.
=> furtive
ferrous: ferrous: see farrier
ferrule: ferrule: [17] Despite appearances, ferrule ‘metal cap on the end of a stick’ has no etymological connection with Latin ferrum ‘iron’, although its present form has been heavily influenced by it. It is an alteration of an earlier virolle, which was borrowed in the 15th century from Old French. The Old French word in turn came from Latin viriola ‘little bracelet’, a diminutive form of viriae ‘bracelet’.
ferry: ferry: [12] A ferry is etymologically a boat on which you ‘travel’ from one place to another. The word comes ultimately from the Indo- European base *por- ‘going, passage’, which has produced a wide range of other English words, including emporium, ford, and port. Its Germanic descendant was *fer- ‘go’, source of English fare as well as ferry. Ferry itself was probably borrowed from the Old Norse element ferju-, denoting ‘passage across water’, and that was what it at first meant in English.

The word’s main modern use, which is essentially an abbreviation of ferry-boat, is not recorded before the 16th century, and does not seem to have really become established until the 20th century.
=> emporium, fare, ford, port
fertile: fertile: [15] Etymologically, something that is fertile can ‘bear’ offspring. The word comes via French from Latin fertilis. This was a derivative of *fertus, the original past participle of ferre ‘bear’ (a distant relative of English bear).
=> bear
fervent: fervent: [14] Fervent comes from the present participle of Latin fervēre ‘boil’. This verb also produced English effervescent [17] and comfrey [15], a plant-name which means literally ‘boil together’, and moreover its derivative fermentum led to English ferment [14]. It goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *bhreu- or *bhru-, from which English also gets brew, broth, and fry, and possibly bread and burn.
=> brew, broth, comfrey, effervescent, ferment, fry
goffer: goffer: see wafer
indifferent: indifferent: see different
inferior: inferior: see under
inferno: inferno: [19] Etymologically, an inferno is that which is ‘below’. The word comes ultimately from Latin infernus, meaning ‘situated below, subterranean’. In ancient mythology, the nether regions were the abode of the dead, so inferna came to be used as the equivalent of Dis, and the Greek Hades. In Jewish and Christian belief, this basement area was the realm of evil spirits, and consequently in late Latin infernus came to cover much the same semantic ground as English hell.

In Italian this became inferno, and English adopted it (strongly under the influence of the Inferno of Dante’s Divine Comedy) in that form in the early 19th century. Its metaphorical use for ‘intense heat’, inspired by the stereotypical flames of hell, is a comparatively recent development. Meanwhile the related infernal [14] (from late Latin infernalis) had long since taken up residence in English, and by the 18th century was being used as an expletive (as in ‘their infernal cheek’).
lucifer: lucifer: see light
offer: offer: [OE] Latin offerre was a compound verb formed from the prefix ob- ‘to’ and ferre ‘bring, carry’ (a distant relative of English bear), and it meant ‘present, offer’. It was borrowed into Old English from Christian Latin texts as offrian, in the specific sense ‘offer up a sacrifice’; the more general spread of modern meanings was introduced via Old French offrir in the 14th century. The past participle of offerre was oblātus, from which English gets oblation [15].
=> bear, oblation
pilfer: pilfer: [14] Originally pilfering was quite a serious matter, roughly what would now be termed plundering, but gradually over the centuries is has become trivialized to ‘stealing small things’. It was to begin with only a noun in English (the verb did not arrive until the 16th century), but its ultimate source was the Anglo- Norman verb pelfrer ‘rob, plunder’. No one is too sure where that came from, although it may be related in some way to the now archaic pelf ‘money’ [14], which originally meant ‘spoils, booty’.
prefer: prefer: [14] To prefer one thing is etymologically to ‘carry it before’ others. The word comes via Old French preferer from Latin praeferre ‘set before’, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and ferre ‘carry’ (source of English fertile and related to bear).
=> bear
refer: refer: [14] To refer something is etymologically to ‘carry it back’. The word comes via Old French referer from Latin referre, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and ferre ‘carry’ (source of English fertile and related to English bear). Of its derivatives, referee [16] is an English coinage, and referendum [19] is an adoption of the neuter gerundive of referre – literally, ‘that which is to be referred’. Relātus, which was used as the past participle of Latin referre, has given English relate.
=> bear, referee, referendum
suffer: suffer: [13] To suffer something is etymologically to ‘hold it up from underneath’, to ‘sustain’ it’. The word comes via Anglo-Norman suffrir from Vulgar Latin *sufferīre, an alteration of Latin sufferre ‘sustain’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix sub- ‘up from underneath’ and ferre ‘carry’ (a relative of English bear). The word’s modern meaning evolved from ‘sustain’ via ‘undergo’ and ‘undergo something unpleasant’ to ‘endure’.
=> bear
transfer: transfer: [14] Transfer comes via Old French transferer from Latin trānsferre ‘carry across’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix trāns- ‘across’ (a distant relative of English through) and ferre ‘carry’ (a relative of English bear, birth, fertile, etc). Its past participle trānslātus gave English translate.
=> bear
wafer: wafer: [14] Wafer and waffle [18] are essentially the same word. Both come ultimately from a Low German term whose underlying etymological meaning was of a ‘honeycomb’- patterned cake or biscuit – a sense wafer has since lost. The ancestral form was wāfel, which seems to have come from the prehistoric Germanic base *wab-, *web- (source of English weave) and is probably related to German wabe ‘honeycomb’.

Old French borrowed Middle Low German wāfel as gaufre (which is where English got goffer ‘crimp’ [18] from). The Anglo-Norman version of this was wafre – whence English wafer. Waffle was borrowed direct into American English from Dutch wafel. (The verb waffle ‘speak verbosely’ [19], incidentally, is not the same word. It is a derivative of an earlier waff [17], used for the sounds a dog makes, which like woof was of imitative origin.)
=> goffer, waffle, weave, web
aquifer (n.): 1897, coined from Latin aqui-, comb. form of aqua "water" (see aqua-) + -fer "bearing," from ferre "to bear" (see infer).
auriferous (adj.): "containing gold," 1727, from Latin aurifer "gold-bearing," from auri-, comb. form of aurum "gold" (see aureate) + -fer "producing, bearing" (see infer).
buffer (n.): 1835, agent noun from obsolete verb buff "make a dull sound when struck" (mid-16c.), from Old French bufe "a blow, slap, punch" (see buffet (n.2)); hence also "something that absorbs a blow."
buffer (v.): 1894, from buffer (n.). Related: Buffered; buffering.
Carboniferous (adj.): 1830 with reference the geological period, from a word formed in English in 1799 to mean "coal-bearing," from Latin carbo (genitive carbonis) "coal" (see carbon) + -ferous "producing, containing, bearing," from ferre "to bear" (see infer). The great coal beds of Europe were laid down during this period. As a stand-alone noun (short for Carboniferous Period) from 1940s.
chafer (n.): kind of beetle, Old English ceafor "beetle, cock-chafer," from Proto-Germanic *kabraz- (cognates: Old Saxon kevera, Dutch kever, Old High German chevar, German Käfer), literally "gnawer," from PIE *gep(h)- "jaw, mouth" (see jowl (n.1)).
chaffer (n.): "a bargain," early 13c., cheffare "buying and selling," also (14c.) cheapfare, probably from Old English ceap "bargain, traffic, gain, sale" (see cheap) + faru "faring, going" (see fare (n.)). In later use, "haggling." The verb is recorded from mid-14c.
chamfer (n.): c. 1600, "small groove cut in wood or stone," from Middle French chanfraindre (15c., Modern French chanfreiner), past participle of chanfraint. The second element seems to be from Latin frangere "to break" (see fraction); perhaps the whole word is cantum frangere "to break the edge." Meaning "bevelled surface of a square edge or corner" is attested from c. 1840, of uncertain connection to the other sense.
chamfered (adj.): 1560s, "channelled, fluted," from the verb form of chamfer (v.); see chamfer (n.)). Meaning "bevelled off" is from c. 1790.
chauffer (n.): "small portable stove," 1825, variant of chafer "a vessel for heating," agent noun from chafe; form influenced by French chauffoir "a heater," from chauffer "to heat," which also is ultimately from chafe (see chauffeur).
chifferobe (n.): also chifforobe; "article of furniture having drawers as well as space for hanging clothes," c. 1917, from merger of chiffonier + wardrobe (n.).
circumference (n.): late 14c., from Latin circumferentia, neuter plural of circumferens, present participle of circumferre "to lead around, take around, carry around," from circum "around" (see circum-) + ferre "to carry" (see infer). A loan-translation of Greek periphereia "periphery, the line round a circular body," literally "a carrying round" (see periphery). Related: Circumferential.
cockchaffer (n.): from cock (n.1), in reference to its size, + chaffer.
coffer (n.): mid-13c., from Old French cofre "a chest" (12c., Modern French coffre), from Latin cophinus "basket" (see coffin).
confer (v.): 1530s, from Middle French conférer (14c.) "to give, converse, compare," from Latin conferre "to bring together," figuratively "to compare; consult, deliberate, talk over," from com- "together" (see com-) + ferre "to bear" (see infer). Sense of "taking counsel" led to conference. The meaning "compare" (common 1530-1650) is largely obsolete, but the abbreviation cf. still is used in this sense. Related: Conferred; conferring.
conference (n.): 1550s, "act of conferring," from Middle French conférence (15c.), from Medieval Latin conferentia, from Latin conferens, present participle of conferre (see confer). Meaning "formal meeting for consultation" is from 1580s.
conferral (n.): 1880, from confer + -al (2).
conifer (n.): 1851, from Latin conifer "cone-bearing, bearing conical fruit," from conus "cone" (see cone) + ferre "to bear" (see infer).
coniferous (adj.): 1660s, from conifer + -ous.
counteroffer (n.): 1788, from counter- + offer (n.).
cross-reference (n.): also crossreference, cross reference, 1834, from cross- + reference (n.). As a verb by 1902.