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algorithm [algorithm 词源字典]: algorithm: [13] Algorithm comes from the name of an Arab mathematician, in full Abu Ja far Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–c. 850), who lived and taught in Baghdad and whose works in translation introduced Arabic numerals to the West. The last part of his name means literally ‘man from Khwarizm’, a town on the borders of Turkmenistan, now called Khiva. The Arabic system of numeration and calculation, based on 10, of which he was the chief exponent, became known in Arabic by his name – al-khwarizmi.

This was borrowed into medieval Latin as algorismus (with the Arabic -izmi transformed into the Latin suffix -ismus ‘-ism’). In Old French algorismus became augorime, which was the basis of the earliest English form of the word, augrim. From the 14th century onwards, Latin influence gradually led to the adoption of the spelling algorism in English.

This remains the standard form of the word when referring to the Arabic number system; but in the late 17th century an alternative version, algorithm, arose owing to association with Greek árithmos ‘number’ (source of arithmetic [13]), and this became established from the 1930s onwards as the term for a stepby- step mathematical procedure, as used in computing. Algol, the name of a computer programming language, was coined in the late 1950s from ‘algorithmic language’.
=> allegory, allergy, arithmetic[algorithm etymology, algorithm origin, 英语词源]
arithmetic: arithmetic: see algorithm
asthma: asthma: [14] The original idea contained in asthma is that of ‘breathing hard’. The Greek noun asthma was derived from the verb ázein ‘breathe hard’ (related to áein ‘blow’, from which English gets air). In its earliest form in English it was asma, reflecting its immediate source in medieval Latin, and though the Greek spelling was restored in the 16th century, the word’s pronunciation has for the most part stuck with asma.
=> air
drachma: drachma: see dram
hatchment: hatchment: see achieve
henchman: henchman: [14] Early spellings such as hengestman and henxstman suggest that this word is a compound of Old English hengest ‘stallion’ and man ‘man’. There are chronological difficulties, for hengest seems to have gone out of general use in the 13th century, and henchman is not recorded until the mid-14th century, but it seems highly likely nevertheless that the compound must originally have meant ‘horse servant, groom’.

The word hengest would no doubt have remained alive in popular consciousness as the name of the Jutish chieftain Hengist who conquered Kent in the 5th century with his brother Horsa; it is related to modern German hengst ‘stallion’, and goes back ultimately to a prehistoric Indo-European kənku-, which denoted ‘jump’. Henchman remained in use for ‘squire’ or ‘page’ until the 17th century, but then seems to have drifted out of use, and it was Sir Walter Scott who revived it in the early 19th century, in the sense ‘trusty right-hand man’.
logarithm: logarithm: [17] Greek lógos had a remarkably wide spread of meanings, ranging from ‘speech, saying’ to ‘reason, reckoning, calculation’, and ‘ratio’. The more ‘verbal’ end of its spectrum has given English the suffixes -logue and -logy (as in dialogue, tautology, etc), while the ‘reasoning’ component has contributed logic [14] (from the Greek derivative logiké), logistic [17] (from the Greek derivative logistikós ‘of calculation’), and logarithm, coined in the early 17th century by the English mathematician John Napier from Greek logós ‘ratio’ and arithmós ‘number’ (source of English arithmetic [13]).
=> arithmetic, logic, logistic
parchment: parchment: [13] Under several layers of disguise lurks the geographical origin of parchment: the ancient town of Pergamum in western Turkey, whose inhabitants used the skin of sheep for writing on rather than papyrus. In Latin, such skin was known as charta Pergamīna ‘paper from Pergamum’, or simply pergamīna. This was later blended with Parthica pellis ‘Parthian leather’ to produce a Vulgar Latin *particamīnum, which passed into English via Old French parchemin (the ending was changed to -ment on the model of other English words, in the 15th century).

The formal distinction between parchment (made from sheepskin) and vellum (made from calfskin) has never been particularly watertight in English.
rhythm: rhythm: [16] Rhythm goes back ultimately to Greek rhuthmós. This originally meant ‘recurring motion’, and was related to the verb rhein ‘flow’ (source of English catarrh and diarrhoea). It was subsequently applied to ‘recurrent accents in verse’, in which sense it passed into English via Latin rhythmus. (Later Old French alteration of the word led to English rhyme.)
=> catarrh, diarrhoea, rheumatic, rhyme
schmaltz: schmaltz: see enamel
schmooze: schmooze: [19] To ‘schmooze’ is to chat or gossip. The word came into colloquial American English towards the end of the 19th century from Yiddish shmuesn ‘to talk, chat’, which in turn was based on Hebrew shemū’ah ‘rumour’.
schmuck: schmuck: see shemozzle
accomplishment (n.): early 15c., "performance of a task; state of completion," from Old French acomplissement "action of accomplishing," from acomplir (see accomplish). Meaning "thing completed" and that of "something that completes" someone and fits him or her for society are from c. 1600.
algorithm (n.): 1690s, from French algorithme, refashioned (under mistaken connection with Greek arithmos "number") from Old French algorisme "the Arabic numeral system" (13c.), from Medieval Latin algorismus, a mangled transliteration of Arabic al-Khwarizmi "native of Khwarazm," surname of the mathematician whose works introduced sophisticated mathematics to the West (see algebra). The earlier form in Middle English was algorism (early 13c.), from Old French.
algorithmic (adj.): by 1799, from algorithm + -ic. In reference to symbolic rules or language, by 1881.
antidisestablishmentarianism (n.): "opposition to disestablishment of the Church of England," 1838, said by Weekley to be first recorded in Gladstone's "Church and State," from dis- + establishment in the sense of "the ecclesiastical system established by law; the Church of England" (1731). Hence establishmentarianism "the principle of a state church" (1846) and disestablish (1590s) "to deprive (a church) of especial state patronage and support" (first used specifically of Christian churches in 1806), which are married in this word. Rarely used at all now except in examples of the longest words, amongst which it has been counted at least since 1901.
arithmancy (n.): "divination by numbers," 1570s, from Greek arithmos "number" (see arithmetic) + -manteia "divination" (see -mancy).
arithmetic (n.): mid-13c., arsmetike, from Old French arsmetique (12c.), from Latin arithmetica, from Greek arithmetike (tekhne) "(the) counting (art)," fem. of arithmetikos "of or for reckoning, arithmetical," from arithmos "number, counting, amount," from PIE root *re(i)- "to reason, count" (cognates: Old English, Old High German rim "number;" Old Irish rim "number," dorimu "I count;" Latin ritus "religious custom;" see read).

Originally in English also arsmetrik, on folk etymology from Medieval Latin ars metrica; spelling corrected early 16c. Replaced native tælcræft, literally "tell-craft."
arithmetical (adj.): 1540s; see arithmetic + -al (1). Related: Arithmetically (late 15c.). In modern use, opposed to geometrical.
arithmocracy (n.): "rule by numerical majority," 1850, from Greek arithmos "number, counting, amount" (see arithmetic) + -cracy. Related: Arithmocratic; arithmocratical.
arithmomania (n.): "compulsive desire to count objects and make calculations," 1890, from French arithmomanie, from Greek arithmos "number, counting, amount" (see arithmetic) + French -manie (see mania). Related: Arithmomaniac.
arrhythmic (adj.): 1853, "without rhythm," in relation to musical sensibility, Modern Latin, from Greek arrhythmos "irregular, unrhythmical, without measure," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + rhythmos (see rhythm). Medical arrhythmia "irregularity of pulse" is attested from 1888, from Greek noun of action from arrhythmos. Related: Arrhythmically.
asthma (n.): late 14c. asma, asma, from Latin asthma, from Greek asthma "short breath, a panting," from azein "breathe hard," probably related to anemos "wind." The -th- was restored in English 16c.
asthmatic (adj.): 1540s, from Latin asthmaticus, from Greek asthmatikos, from asthma (see asthma). Noun meaning "person with asthma" is recorded from 1610s.
astonishment (n.): 1590s; see astonish + -ment. Earlier it meant "paralysis" (1570s).
attachment (n.): c. 1400, "arrest of a person on judicial warrant" (mid-13c. in Anglo-Latin), from French attachement, from attacher (see attach). Application to property (including, later, wages) dates from 1590s; meaning "sympathy, devotion" is recorded from 1704; that of "something that is attached to something else" dates from 1797 and has become perhaps the most common use since the rise of e-mail.
banishment (n.): c. 1500, from banish + -ment.
benchmark (n.): also bench-mark, "surveyor's point of reference," 1838, from a specialized surveyors' use of bench (n.) + mark (n.1); figurative sense is from 1884.
biorhythm (n.): also bio-rhythm, 1960, from bio- + rhythm. Related: Biorhythmic.
birthmark (n.): also birth-mark, by 1805, from birth (n.) + mark (n.1). Birth marks in 17c. could be longing marks; supposedly they showed the image of something longed for by the mother while expecting. Related: Birthmarked.
blandishment (n.): "flattering speech," 1590s, from blandish + -ment. Sense of "attraction, allurement" (often blandishments) is from 1590s.
Brahma: 1785, from Sanskrit Brahma, nominative of Brahman, chief god of the trinity Brahma-Vishnu-Siva in post-Vedic Hindu religion (see brahmin).
Brahman: see brahmin.
Brahmaputra: river in Asia, Hindi, literally "son of Brahma."
brahmin (n.): "member of Boston's upper class," 1823, figurative use of Brahman "member of the highest priestly Hindu caste," late 15c., from Sanskrit brahmana-s, from brahman- "prayer," also "the universal soul, the Absolute," which is of uncertain origin. Related to Brahma.
Bushman (n.): 1785, from South African Dutch boschjesman, literally "man of the bush," from boschje, from Dutch bosje, diminutive of bosch, bos (see bush (n.)).
cashmere (n.): 1680s, "shawl made of cashmere wool," from the old spelling of Kashmir, Himalayan kingdom where wool was obtained from long-haired goats. As a name for this kind of woolen fabric, favored for shawls, etc., it is attested from 1822.
catchment (n.): 1844, from catch (v.) + -ment.
churchman (n.): mid-13c., from church (n.) + man (n.).
coachman (n.): 1570s, from coach (n.) + man (n.).
detachment (n.): 1660s, "action of detaching," from French détachement (17c.), from détacher (see detach). Meaning "portion of a military force" is from 1670s; that of "aloofness from objects or circumstances" is from 1798.
drachma (n.): 1570s, from Latinized form of Greek drakhme, an Attic coin and weight, probably originally "a handful" (see dram). Earlier in English as dragme (late 14c.), from Old French dragme, from Medieval Latin dragma.
Dutchman (n.): "Dutch ship," 1650s, from Dutch (adj.) + man (n.). References to the ghost ship called the Flying Dutchman seem to begin early 19c. (see flying).
earthman (n.): also earth-man, 1860, "a spirit of nature; a demon who lives below the ground," from earth (n.) + man (n.). Science fiction sense of "inhabitant of the planet Earth" first attested 1949 in writing of Robert Heinlein.
embellishment (n.): 1590s, from embellish + -ment; or from Old French embelissement. Earlier noun was embellishing (mid-15c.).
encroachment (n.): mid-15c., "obtruding structure," from encroach + -ment, or an equivalent Old French compound.
Englishman: Old English Engliscman, from English (n.1) + man (n.). Related: Englishmen. Englishwoman is from c. 1400. Englander "native of England" is from 1820; in some cases from German Engländer. Englisher is from 1680s. Englishry is from late 13c. in Anglo-French as "state of being English;" from mid-15c. as "the English people or faction."
enrichment (n.): 1620s, from enrich + -ment.
entrenchment (n.): also intrenchment, 1580s, from entrench + -ment.
establishment (n.): late 15c., "settled arrangement," also "income, property," from establish + -ment. Meaning "established church" is from 1731; Sense of "place of business" is from 1832. Meaning "social matrix of ruling people and institutions" is attested occasionally from 1923, consistently from 1955.