英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

admiral [admiral 词源字典]: admiral: [13] Admirals originally had nothing specifically to do with the sea. The word comes ultimately from Arabic ’amīr ‘commander’ (from which English later also acquired emir [17]). This entered into various titles followed by the particle -al- ‘of’ (’amīr-al-bahr ‘commander of the sea’, ’amīr-al-mūminīn ‘commander of the faithful’), and when it was borrowed into European languages, ’amīr-al- became misconstrued as an independent, free-standing word.

Moreover, the Romans, when they adopted it, smuggled in their own Latin prefix ad-, producing admiral. When this reached English (via Old French) it still meant simply ‘commander’, and it was not until the time of Edward III that a strong naval link began to emerge. The Arabic title ’amīr-al-bahr had had considerable linguistic influence in the wake of Arabic conquests around the Mediterranean seaboard (Spanish almirante de la mar, for instance), and specific application of the term to a naval commander spread via Spain, Italy, and France to England.

Thus in the 15th century England had its Admiral of the Sea or Admiral of the Navy, who was in charge of the national fleet. By 1500 the maritime connection was firmly established, and admiral came to be used on its own for ‘supreme naval commander’.
=> emir[admiral etymology, admiral origin, 英语词源]
algebra: algebra: [16] Algebra symbolizes the debt of Western culture to Arab mathematics, but ironically when it first entered the English language it was used as a term for the setting of broken bones, and even sometimes for the fractures themselves (‘The helpes of Algebra and of dislocations’, Robert Copland, Formulary of Guydo in surgery 1541). This reflects the original literal meaning of the Arabic term al jebr, ‘the reuniting of broken parts’, from the verb jabara ‘reunite’.

The anatomical connotations of this were adopted when the word was borrowed, as algebra, into Spanish, Italian, and medieval Latin, from one or other of which English acquired it. In Arabic, however, it had long been applied to the solving of algebraic equations (the full Arabic expression was ’ilm aljebr wa’lmuqābalah ‘the science of reunion and equation’, and the mathematician al- Khwarizmi used aljebr as the title of his treatise on algebra – see ALGORITHM), and by the end of the 16th century this was firmly established as the central meaning of algebra in English.
appraise: appraise: [15] Originally, appraise meant simply ‘fix the price of’. It came from the Old French verb aprisier ‘value’, which is ultimately a parallel formation with appreciate; it is not clear whether it came directly from late Latin appretiāre, or whether it was a newly formed compound in Old French, based on pris ‘price’. Its earliest spellings in English were thus apprize and apprise, and these continued in use down to the 19th century, with the more metaphorical meaning ‘estimate the worth of’ gradually coming to the fore.

From the 16th century onwards, however, it seems that association with the word praise (which is quite closely related etymologically) has been at work, and by the 19th century the form appraise was firmly established. Apprise ‘inform’, with which appraise is often confused (and which appears superficially to be far closer to the source pris or pretium ‘price’), in fact has no etymological connection with it.

It comes from appris, the past participle of French apprendre ‘teach’ (closely related to English apprehend).
=> appreciate, price
askance: askance: [16] The origins of askance remain obscure. When it first entered the language it meant literally ‘obliquely, sideways’ (‘He bid his angels turn askance the poles of Earth’, John Milton, Paradise Lost 1667), so a possible source is Italian a scancio ‘obliquely, slantingly’, but this has never been firmly established. Its metaphorical use in the phrase look askance dates from the 17th century.
axle: axle: [17] The word axle emerges surprisingly late considering the antiquity of axles, but related terms had existed in the language for perhaps a thousand years. Old English had eax, which came from a hypothetical Germanic *akhsō, related to Latin axis. This survived in the compound ax-tree until the 17th century (later in Scotland); tree in this context meant ‘beam’.

But from the early 14th century the native ax-tree began to be ousted by Old Norse öxultré (or as it became in English axle-tree); the element öxull came from a prehistoric Germanic *akhsulaz, a derivative of *akhsō. Axle first appeared on its own in the last decade of the 16th century (meaning ‘axis’, a sense it has since lost), and became firmly established in the early 17th century.
bantam: bantam: [18] When these diminutive chickens were first imported into Europe in the middle of the 18th century, it was thought that they had originated in a village called Bantam in Java, now in Indonesia, and they were named accordingly. This version of their history has never been firmly established, but the name stuck. Bantamweight as a category of boxing weights dates from the 1880s.
compact: compact: There are two distinct words compact in English; both are of Latin origin, but they come from completely different sources. The adjective, ‘compressed’ [14], comes from Latin compactus, the past participle of compingere, a compound verb formed from com- ‘together’ and pangere ‘fasten’. The noun use ‘small case for face powder’ is 20th-century and based on the notion of firmly compacted powder. Compact ‘agreement’ [16] comes from Latin compactum, a noun based on the past participle of the verb compacīscī ‘come to an agreement’. The unprefixed form pacīscī, a relative of Latin pax ‘peace’, gave English pact [15].
=> pact, peace
consist: consist: [16] Latin consistere meant originally ‘stand still, be firmly in place’. It was a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix com- and sistere ‘place’ (a relative of Latin stāre, which entered into a parallel compound to form constāre ‘stand firm’, source of English constant [14]). The concrete concept of ‘standing firm’ passed into the more abstract ‘exist’, and hence ‘have a particular kind of existence, have particular inherent qualities’. By the time English borrowed the verb it had come to mean ‘be composed of’.
=> constant, constitute
corpse: corpse: [14] Latin corpus ‘body’ has two direct descendants in English: corpse, which came via Old French cors, and corps [18], which came via modern French corps. The former first entered English in the 13th century as cors, and during the 14th century it had its original Latin p reinserted. At first it meant simply ‘body’, but by the end of the 14th century the current sense ‘dead body’ was becoming firmly established.

The idea originally underlying corps, on the other hand, was of a small ‘body’ of troops. Other English derivatives of corpus include corporal, corporate [15], from the past participle of Latin corporāre ‘make into a body’, corpulent [14], two diminutives corpuscle [17] and corset [14], and corsage [15]. Corpus itself was acquired in the 14th century.
=> corporal, corporate, corpulent, corset
count: count: There are two distinct words count in English. Count ‘enumerate’ [14] comes ultimately from Latin computāre ‘calculate’ (source of English compute). It came into English from Old French conter, which had, via the notion of ‘adding up and rendering an account’, developed the sense ‘tell a story’ (preserved in English in the derivatives account and recount).

The derivative counter [14] began life as medieval Latin computātōrium ‘place of accounts’, and entered English via Anglo- Norman counteour. Its modern sense ‘surface for transactions in a shop’ does not seem to have become firmly established until the early 19th century, although it was applied to similar objects in banks from the late 17th century. The noble title count [16] comes via Old French conte from Latin comes, which originally meant ‘companion, attendant’ (it was a compound noun, formed from the prefix com- ‘with’ and īre ‘go’, and so its underlying etymological meaning is ‘one who goes with another’).

In the Roman empire it was used for the governor of a province, and in Anglo- Norman it was used to translate English earl. It has never been used as an English title, but the feminine form countess was adopted for the wife of an earl in the 12th century (and viscount was borrowed from Anglo-Norman viscounte in the 14th century). The Latin derivative comitātus was originally a collective noun denoting a ‘group of companions’, but with the development of meaning in comes it came to mean first ‘office of a governor’ and latterly ‘area controlled by a governor’.

In England, this area was the ‘shire’, and so county [14], acquired via Anglo-Norman counte, came to be a synonym for ‘shire’. Another descendant of Latin comes is concomitant [17], from the present participle of late Latin concomitārī.
=> account, compute, putative, recount; concomitant, county
creek: creek: [13] Now firmly associated with watercourse, the original connotations of creek seem to have been of ‘narrow and secluded bendiness’. It appears to have been borrowed from Old Norse kriki ‘nook’, which some have speculated may be related to Old Norse krōkr ‘hook’ (source of English crook). Creek remains strictly a word for narrow waterways, a reminder of its beginnings.
=> crook
deer: deer: [OE] In Old English, dēor meant ‘animal’ in general, as opposed to ‘human being’ (as its modern Germanic relatives, German tier, Dutch dier, and Swedish djur, still do). Apparently connected forms in some other Indo-European languages, such as Lithuanian dusti ‘gasp’ and Church Slavonic dychati ‘breathe’, suggest that it comes via a prehistoric Germanic *deuzom from Indo-European *dheusóm, which meant ‘creature that breathes’ (English animal and Sanskrit prānin- ‘living creature’ have similar semantic origins).

Traces of specialization in meaning to ‘deer’ occur as early as the 9th century (although the main Old English word for ‘deer’ was heorot, source of modern English hart), and during the Middle English period it became firmly established, driving out ‘animal’ by the 15th century.
despot: despot: [16] The ultimate source of despot is Greek despótēs ‘lord’. It is related to Sanskrit dampati ‘master of the house’, and both probably go back to an Indo-European compound formed from *domo- ‘house’ (source of Latin domus ‘house’, and hence of English domestic) and another element related to Latin potis ‘able’ and English power. (Latin dominus ‘lord’, a derivative of domus ‘house’ and originally meaning ‘master of the house’, is a semantically parallel formation.) Greek despótēs was used for ‘lord, master’ or ‘ruler’ in various contexts, with no particular pejorative connotation (in modern Greek it means ‘bishop’).

But most rulers in ancient times enjoyed absolute power, and so eventually the word (which entered English via medieval Latin despota and early modern French despot) came to mean ‘tyrannical ruler’; this sense became firmly established at the time of the French Revolution.
=> domestic, dominion
destiny: destiny: [14] Etymologically, one’s destiny is that which has been firmly established or determined for one (as if by fate). The word comes from destinee, the Old French descendant of Latin dēstinātus. This was the past participle of dēstināre ‘make firm, establish’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dē- and *stanāre ‘fix’ (source also of English obstinate). This in turn was a derivative of stare ‘stand’, a relative of English stand. The Latin verb also gave English destine [14] and hence destination [15], whose current use comes from an earlier place of destination ‘place for which one is bound’.
=> destination, obstinate, stand
doctor: doctor: [14] Doctor, doctrine, and document all go back ultimately to the Latin verb docēre ‘teach’. This in turn was a descendant of an Indo-European base *dok-, *dek- which also produced Greek dokein ‘seem, think’ (source of English dogma [17], orthodox, and paradox) and didáskein ‘learn’ (source of English didactic [17]) and Latin decere ‘be fitting or suitable’ (source of English decent, decorate, and dignity) and dexter (source of English dextrous).

Latin doctor was derived from doctus, the past participle of docēre, and came into English via Old French doctour. It originally meant ‘teacher’, and the main modern sense of ‘medical practitioner’, although sporadically recorded in Middle English, did not become firmly established until the late 16th century. Latin doctrīna ‘teaching, learning’, a derivative of Latin doctor, produced English doctrine [14].

Latin documentum, which came directly from docēre, originally meant ‘lesson’, but in medieval Latin its signification had passed through ‘written instruction’ to ‘official paper’. English acquired it as document [15]. The derivative documentary is 19th-century.
=> dainty, decent, decorate, dextrous, didactic, dignity, doctrine, document, dogma, orthodox, paradox
dry: dry: [OE] Dry comes ultimately from prehistoric Germanic *draugiz, a derivative of the base *draug-, *drūg-, which also produced English drought and drain. Its other Germanic relatives are Dutch droog and German trocken, and some have connected it with Old Norse drjūgr ‘lasting, strong’, Old Prussian drūktai ‘firmly’, and Lithuanian dialect drūktas ‘thick, strong’ – the theory being that strength and endurance are linked with ‘drying out’.
=> drain, drought
goon: goon: [20] The antecedents of goon are murky. It may have been inspired by goony ‘simpleton’, which is first recorded in the 1890s and which may well be the same word as the much earlier gony with the same meaning, which in turn goes right back to the 16th century and could be related to Scottish gonyel ‘fool’. An ultimate connection with the obsolete verb gane ‘yawn’ has been suggested, but all we know for certain about goon itself is that it was introduced to the English language at large in America in 1921 by Frederick Lewis Allen, writing in Harper’s Magazine.

He claimed that it had been in use in his family for some years, with the meaning ‘stolid person’, but he had no suggestions to offer as to its origins. It then disappears from the record until the 1930s, when its resurrection seems to have been set in train by ‘Alice the Goon’, a slow-witted, muscular character in the comic strip ‘Thimble Theater, featuring Popeye’ by E.C. Segar, which first came out in 1933 (it is not clear whether Segar knew about the earlier, 1920s usage).

Taken up enthusiastically in student slang, by the end of the decade goon was firmly established in the senses ‘fool’ and ‘thug, strong-arm man’. During World War II it was applied by Allied prisoners of war to their German guards, and it has often been suggested that that was the inspiration for the goon of The Goon Show (originally Crazy People), the popular BBC radio comedy programme of the 1950s.

Its creator, Spike Milligan, denied this, and said that he got the idea from the ‘Goon’ of the Popeye cartoons. Either way, it is the show’s particular brand of comical surreality that colours today’s meaning of the word.
grin: grin: [OE] Modern English grin and groan are scarcely semantic neighbours, but a possible common ancestor may provide the link: prehistoric Indo-European *ghrei-, which seems to have meant something like ‘be open’. It has been suggested as the source of a range of verbs which started off denoting simply ‘open the mouth’, but have since differentiated along the lines ‘make noise’ and ‘grimace’. Grin has taken the latter course, but close relatives, such as Old High German grennan ‘mutter’ and Old Norse grenja ‘howl’, show that the parting of the semantic ways was not so distant in time.

Old English grennian actually meant ‘draw back the lips and bare the teeth in pain or anger’. Traces of this survive in such distinctly unfunny expressions as ‘grinning skull’, but the modern sense ‘draw back the lips in amusement’ did not begin to emerge until the 15th century. Groan [OE], on the other hand, is firmly in the ‘make noise’ camp.
=> groan
grisly: grisly: [OE] Middle English had a verb grise ‘be terrified’, which points back via an unrecorded Old English *grīsan to a West Germanic *grīdenoting ‘fear, terror’, from which grisly would have been formed. Dutch has the parallel formation grijzelijk. In 1900, the Oxford English Dictionary described grisly as ‘now only arch and lit’, but since then its fortunes have recovered strongly, and it is now firmly part of the general language.
juggernaut: juggernaut: [17] Hindi Jagganath is a title of Krishna, one of the avatars, or incarnations, of the god Vishnu, the Preserver. It comes from Sanskrit Jagganātha, a compound of jagat- ‘world’ and nāthás ‘lord’. It is applied also to a large wagon on which an image of the god is carried in procession (notably in an annual festival in Puri, a town in the northeastern Indian state of Orissa).

It used to be said, apocryphally, that worshippers of Krishna threw themselves under the wheels of the wagon in an access of religious ecstasy, and so juggernaut came to be used metaphorically in English for an ‘irresistible crushing force’: ‘A neighbouring people were crushed beneath the worse than Jaggernaut car of wild and fierce democracy’, J W Warter, Last of the Old Squires 1854.

The current application to large heavy lorries is prefigured as long ago as 1841 in William Thackeray’s Second Funeral of Napoleon (‘Fancy, then, the body landed at day-break and transferred to the car; and fancy the car, a huge Juggernaut of a machine’); but it did not become firmly established until the late 1960s.
off: off: [OE] Off originated simply as the adverbial use of of. The spelling off, denoting the extra emphasis given to the adverb, began to appear in the 15th century, but the orthographic distinction between off for the adverb, and for prepositional uses associated with it (‘removal, disengagement’), and of for the ordinary preposition did not become firmly established until after 1600.
=> of
plonk: plonk: English has two distinct words plonk. The one that means ‘put down firmly and heavily’ [19] was no doubt originally simply an imitation of the sound made by the action (alternative realizations of which are plank and plunk). The other, ‘cheap bog-standard wine’ [20], appears to have originated among Australian troops serving in France during World War I, which lends credence to the supposition that it was based on a French original – generally supposed to be vin blanc ‘white wine’.

It is true that not until the 1930s do we have any written evidence of plonk in this sense, nor of its possible precursor plinkety-plonk (which could have been a comical rhyming variation on vin blanc, and which also produced the shorter-lived spin-off plink in the same sense), and that nowadays the term seems to be applied mainly to red wine rather than white. Nevertheless, there are relevant records of Great-War-period puns (for example von blink as a ‘humorous corruption’ of vin blanc), and the explanation has an air of plausibility.
proletarian: proletarian: [17] A Roman citizen of the lowest class was termed a prōlētārius. The only service he was capable of performing for the state was that of producing children, to maintain its population level, and it was this function that gave the prōlētārius his name. For it was derived from prōlēs ‘offspring’, a word based on the same source (*ol- ‘nourish’) as produced English adolescent, alimony, etc.

The abbreviation prole dates back to the late 19th century (George Bernard Shaw is the first writer on record as using it), but it was George Orwell in the 1930s who firmly established the term. The immediate source of proletariat [19] is French prolétariat (in the 19th century it was often anglicized to proletariate). English is also indebted to Latin prōlēs for prolific [17], which comes from the medieval Latin derivative prōlificus ‘producing offspring’.
=> adolescent, alimentary, alimony, prolific
ravine: ravine: [15] Ravine and the now seldom encountered rapine ‘plunder’ [15] are essentially the same word. Both come ultimately from Latin rapīna ‘plunder’, a derivative of rapere ‘seize by force’ (from which English gets rape, rapid, rapture, ravenous, etc). This passed directly into English via Old French as rapine, but a variant Old French form also developed, ravine, whose meaning appears to have been influenced by Latin rapidus ‘rapid’.

It denoted ‘violent rush, impetus’ – which is how it was used in its brief and very spasmodic career in Middle English. It did not become firmly established as an English word until the 19th century, when it was reborrowed from French in the sense ‘gorge’ – originally as carved out by a ‘violent rush’ or torrent of water.
=> rape, rapine, rapture
skull: skull: [13] The Old English word for ‘skull’ was hēafodpanne, literally ‘head-pan’. It has never been firmly established where its Middle English replacement skull came from, but is seems more than likely that it was borrowed from a Scandinavian language (Swedish and Norwegian have skalle ‘skull’).
stalwart: stalwart: [14] The ancestor of stalwart was Old English stǣlwierthe. The second half of this compound adjective denoted ‘worth, worthy’, but the precise significance of the first element is not clear. It represents Old English stǣl ‘place’, perhaps used here in the metaphorical sense ‘stead’, so that etymologically the word would mean ‘able to stand someone in good stead’.

But stǣl itself may have been a contraction of stathol ‘foundation’, so the underlying meaning of the compound could be ‘foundation-worthy’, hence ‘firmly fixed’ (an adjective statholfæst existed in Old English, meaning ‘firm, stable’). South of the border it became stalworth, which had virtually died out by the end of the 17th century. But the Scottish variant stalwart, first recorded in the late 14th century, survived, and was brought into the general language by Sir Walter Scott.
tight: tight: [14] Tight originally meant ‘dense’ (‘His squire rode all night in a wood that was full tight’, Torrent of Portugal 1435). It appears to have been an alteration of an earlier thight ‘dense, thickset’, which was borrowed from Old Norse théttr ‘watertight, dense’. And this, like German and Dutch dicht ‘dense, close’, came from a prehistoric Germanic *thingkhtaz, whose other relatives include Lithuanian tankus ‘thick, standing close together’, Irish contēcim ‘coagulate’, and Sanskrit tañc- ‘contract’. The sense ‘firmly fixed’ developed in the 16th century, ‘drunk’ in the 19th century.
tsunami: tsunami: [19] Japanese tsunami means literally ‘harbour waves’, a reference to the devastating effect Pacific tsunamis have had on Japanese coastal communities. For most of the 20th century the term was largely restricted to the specialized vocabulary of oceanographers and earth scientists, lay people preferring the more familiar tidal wave (a misnomer: strictly speaking, a tidal wave is one caused by the movement of the tide, whereas a tsunami is specifically generated by an undersea earthquake), but the disastrous inundation of southern Asian coasts at the end of 2004 lodged it firmly in the language’s everyday lexicon.
wife: wife: [OE] Wife originally meant simply ‘woman’, but the semantic restriction to ‘married woman’ began in the Old English period and has become more and more firmly established as the centuries have passed. Of the word’s Germanic relatives, German weib has largely been replaced by frau, and Dutch wijf, Swedish vif, and Danish viv are no longer front-line words. It is not known what its ultimate source was. A woman is etymologically a ‘wife-man’, that is, a ‘womanperson’, a ‘female-person’.
ceramic (adj.): 1850, keramic, from Greek keramikos, from keramos "potter's clay, pottery, tiles," perhaps from a pre-Hellenic word. Watkins suggests possible connection with Latin cremare "to burn," but Klein's sources are firmly against this. Spelling influenced by French céramique (1806). Related: ceramist (1855). Ceramics is attested from 1857.
clingstone (n.): "fruit having the pulp adhering firmly to the stone," 1722, from cling (v.) + stone (n.). Also as an adjective.
confide (v.): mid-15c., "to trust or have faith," from Latin confidere "to trust in, rely firmly upon, believe" (see confidence). Meaning "to share a secret with" is from 1735; phrase confide in (someone) is from 1888. Related: Confided; confiding.
confidence (n.): early 15c., from Middle French confidence or directly from Latin confidentia, from confidentem (nominative confidens) "firmly trusting, bold," present participle of confidere "to have full trust or reliance," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + fidere "to trust" (see faith). For sense of "swindle" see con (adj.).
confident (adj.): 1570s, "self-reliant, sure of oneself," from Middle French confident, from Latin confidentem (nominative confidens) "firmly trusting, reliant, self-confident, bold, daring," present participle of confidere (see confidence). Related: Confidently.
confirmed (adj.): late 14c., of diseases, "firmly established," past participle adjective from confirm. Of persons and their habits, from 1826.
convince (v.): 1520s, "to overcome in argument," from Latin convincere "to overcome decisively," from com-, intensive prefix (see com-), + vincere "to conquer" (see victor). Meaning "to firmly persuade" is from c. 1600. Related: Convinced; convincing; convincingly.
Darius: name of three Persian rulers, notably Darius the Great, Persian emperor 521-485 B.C.E., from Greek Darius, from Old Persian Darayavaus, probably literally "he who holds firm the good," from PIE root *dher- (2) "to hold firmly, support" (see firm (adj.)).
destiny (n.): mid-14c., from Old French destinée (12c.) "purpose, intent, fate, destiny; that which is destined," noun use of fem. past participle of destiner, from Latin destinare "make firm, establish" (see destination). The sense is of "that which has been firmly established," as by fate.
dharma (n.): 1796, in secular sense, "caste custom, right behavior;" in Buddhism and Hinduism, "moral law," from Sanskrit, "law, right, justice," related to dharayati "holds," and cognate with Latin firmus, all from PIE root *dher- (2) "to hold firmly, support" (see firm (adj.)).
ensconce (v.): 1580s, "to cover with a fort," from en- (1) "make, put in" + sconce "small fortification, shelter," perhaps via French, probably from Dutch schans "earthwork" (compare Middle High German schanze "bundle of sticks"), which is of uncertain origin. Hence, "to fix firmly, settle" (1590s). Related: Ensconced.
fast (adj.): Old English fæst "firmly fixed, steadfast, constant; secure; enclosed, watertight; strong, fortified," probably from Proto-Germanic *fastu- "firm, fast" (cognates: Old Frisian fest, Old Norse fastr, Dutch vast, German fest), from PIE root *past- "firm, solid" (source of Sanskrit pastyam "dwelling place").

Meaning "rapid, quick" is from 1550s, from the adverb (q.v.). Of colors, from 1650s; of clocks, from 1840. The sense of "living an unrestrained life, eager in pursuit of pleasure" (usually of women) is from 1746 (fast living is from 1745). Fast buck recorded from 1947; fast food is first attested 1951. Fast lane is by 1966; the fast track originally was in horse-racing (1934), one that permits maximum speed; figurative sense by 1960s. Fast-forward is by 1948, originally of audio tape.
fast (v.): "abstain from food," Old English fæstan "to fast" (as a religious duty), also "to make firm; establish, confirm, pledge," from Proto-Germanic *fastan "to hold fast, observe abstinence" (cognates: Old Frisian festia, Old High German fasten, German fasten, Old Norse fasta "abstain from food"), from the same root as fast (adj.).

The original meaning in prehistoric Germanic was "hold firmly," and the sense evolved via "have firm control of oneself," to "hold oneself to observance" (compare Gothic fastan "to keep, observe," also "to fast"). Perhaps the Germanic sense shifted through use of the native words to translate Medieval Latin observare in its sense "to fast." The verb in the sense "to make fast" continued in Middle English, but was superseded by fasten. Related: Fasted; fasting.
fast (adv.): Old English fæste "firmly, securely; strictly;" also, perhaps, "speedily," from Proto-Germanic *fasto (cognates: Old Saxon fasto, Old Frisian feste, Dutch vast, Old High German fasto, German fast "firmly, immovably, strongly, very"), from *fastu- (adj.) "firm, fast" (see fast (adj.)).

The meaning "quickly, swiftly, rapidly" was perhaps in Old English, certainly by c. 1200, probably from or developed under influence of Old Norse fast "firmly, fast." This sense developed, apparently in Scandinavian, from that of "firmly, strongly, vigorously" (to run hard means the same as to run fast; also compare fast asleep, also compare Old Norse drekka fast "to drink hard," telja fast "to give (someone) a severe lesson"). Or perhaps from the notion of a runner who "sticks" close to whatever he is chasing (compare Old Danish fast "much, swiftly, at once, near to, almost," and sense evolution of German fix "fast, fixed; fast, quick, nimble," from Latin fixus). The expression fast by "near, close, beside" also is said to be from Scandinavian. To fast talk someone (v.) is recorded by 1946.
fastly (adv.): "quickly," c. 1200, former adverbial cousin to fast (adj.), from Old English fæstlic "firmly, fixedly, steadfastly, resolutely;" obsolete in 19c., simple fast taking its place.
firm (adj.): late 14c., ferm, "strong, steady" (of things), "permanent, enduring" (of agreements), "steadfast, steady" (of persons), "sound, well-founded" (of arguments), from Old French ferm "strong, vigorous; healthy, sound; steadfast, loyal, faithful" (12c.), from Latin firmus "strong, steadfast, enduring, stable," figuratively "constant, steadfast, trusty, faithful," from PIE root *dher- (2) "to hold, support" (cognates: Sanskrit dharmah "custom, law," Greek thronos "seat," Lithuanian dirzmas "strong," Welsh dir "hard," Breton dir "steel"). The spelling return to -i- in late 1500s was modeled on Latin. Related: Firmly; firmness.
flat-footed (adj.): c. 1600, "with flat feet;" see flat (adj.) + foot (n.). Meaning "unprepared" is from 1912, U.S. baseball slang, on notion of "not on one's toes;" earlier in U.S. colloquial adverbial use it meant "straightforwardly, downright, resolute" (1828), from notion of "standing firmly."
foothold (n.): 1620s, from foot (n.) + hold (n.). Figurative use by 1650s; "that which sustains the feet firmly," hence "stable ground from which to act."
fort (n.): mid-15c., "fortified place, stronghold," from Old French fort "fort, fortress; strong man," noun use of adjective meaning "strong, stout, sturdy; hard, severe, difficult; hard to understand; dreadful, terrible; fortified" (10c.), from Latin fortis "strong, mighty; firm, steadfast; brave, spirited," from Old Latin forctus, possibly from PIE root *bhergh- (2) "high, elevated," with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts (see barrow (n.2)). Or possibly from *dher- (2) "to hold firmly, support." Figurative use of hold the fort attested from 1590s.
gripe (v.): c. 1200, "to clutch, seize firmly," from Old English gripan "grasp at, lay hold, attack, take, seek to get hold of," from Proto-Germanic *gripan (cognates: Old Saxon gripan, Old Norse gripa, Dutch grijpen, Gothic greipan, Old High German grifan, German greifen "to seize"), from PIE root *ghreib- "to grip" (cognates: Lithuanian griebiu "to seize"). Figurative sense of "complain, grouse" is first attested 1932, probably from earlier meaning "produce a gripping pain in the bowels" (c. 1600; compare bellyache). Related: Griped; griping.
ground (v.): mid-13c., "to put on the ground, to strike down to the ground;" late 14c., "lay the foundation of," also, figuratively, "to base" (an argument, sermon, etc.), from ground (n.). Meaning "instruct thoroughly in the basics" is from late 14c. Of ships, "to run into the ground," from mid-15c. (intransitive), transitive sense from 1650s. Of arms, from 1711. Electrical sense from 1881. Meaning "deny privileges" is 1940s, originally a punishment meted out to pilots (in which sense it is attested from 1930). In the sense "establish firmly" Old English had grundweallian, grundstaðelian; also gryndan "descend," gegryndan "to found."