quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- grenade[grenade 词源字典]
- grenade: [16] The original grenades were small spherical explosive-filled cases with a wick on top. In shape, they bore more than a passing resemblance to pomegranates. The Old French term for ‘pomegranate’ was pome grenate, or just grenate for short, and it was this abbreviated form, altered to grenade under the influence of the related Spanish granada, that was applied to the explosive device. Grenadier [17] came from the French derivative grenadier ‘grenadethrower’.
=> grain, grenadier, pomegranate[grenade etymology, grenade origin, 英语词源] - grenade (n.)
- "small explosive shell," thrown rather than discharged from a cannon, 1590s, earlier "pomegranate" (1520s), from Middle French grenade "pomegranate" (16c.), earlier grenate (12c.), from Old French pomegrenate (see pomegranate). Form influenced by Spanish granada. So called because the many-seeded fruit suggested the powder-filled, fragmenting bomb, or from similarities of shape. See pomegranate. Much used late 17c., they went out of use 18c. but were revived 20c.