英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

unicorn [unicorn 词源字典]: unicorn: [13] Legends of a one-horned beast abounded in ancient times, perhaps inspired by the rhinoceros, or a sideways view of an antelope. When the early Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible came across the word re’em, which seems to have denoted a sort of wild ox, they rendered it monókerōs (literally ‘onehorn’), perhaps identifying it with the rhinoceros. The Vulgate turned this into Latin as unicornis, a noun use of an already existent Latin adjective meaning ‘one-horned’, formed from ūnus ‘one’ and cornū ‘horn’ (a relative of English horn).
=> horn[unicorn etymology, unicorn origin, 英语词源]
Capricorn: zodiac sign, late Old English, from Latin Capricornus, literally "horned like a goat," from caper (genitive capri) "goat" (see cab) + cornu "horn," from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body" (see horn (n.)); a loan-translation of Greek Aigokheros, the name of the constellation. Extended 1894 to persons born under the sign.
cow (n.): Old English cu "cow," from Proto-Germanic *kwon (cognates: Old Frisian ku, Middle Dutch coe, Dutch koe, Old High German kuo, German Kuh, Old Norse kyr, Danish, Swedish ko), earlier *kwom, from PIE *gwou- "cow, ox, bull" (cognates Sanskrit gaus, Greek bous, Latin bov-, Old Irish bo, Latvian guovs, Armenian gaus "cow," Slovak hovado "ox"), perhaps ultimately imitative of lowing (compare Sumerian gu, Chinese ngu, ngo "ox"). In Germanic and Celtic, of females only; in most other languages, of either gender. Other "cow" words sometimes are from roots meaning "horn, horned," such as Lithuanian karve, Old Church Slavonic krava. Compare kine.
forked (adj.): c. 1300, "branched or divided in two parts," past participle adjective from fork (v.). Of roads from 1520s; from 1550s as "pointing more than one way." In 16c.-17c. sometimes with a suggestion of "cuckold," on the notion of "horned." Forked tongue as a figure of duplicitous speech is from 1885, American English. Double tongue in the same sense is from 15c.
greenhorn (n.): mid-15c., "horn of an animal recently killed," also "young horned animal," from green (adj.) in sense of "new, fresh, recent" + horn (n.). Applied to new soldiers from c. 1650; extended to any inexperienced person by 1680s.
horn (n.): Old English horn "horn of an animal," also "wind instrument" (originally made from animal horns), from Proto-Germanic *hurnaz (cognates: German Horn, Dutch horen, Gothic haurn), from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body," with derivatives refering to horned animals, horn-shaped objects and projecting parts (cognates: Greek karnon "horn," Latin cornu "horn," Sanskrit srngam "horn," Persian sar "head," Avestan sarah- "head," Greek koryphe "head," Latin cervus "deer," Welsh carw "deer"). Reference to car horns is first recorded 1901. Figurative senses of Latin cornu included "salient point, chief argument; wing, flank; power, courage, strength." Jazz slang sense of "trumpet" is by 1921. Meaning "telephone" is by 1945.
pollard (n.): 1540s, "de-horned animal," from poll (v.2) + -ard. In reference to polled trees, from 1610s.
prong (n.): early 15c., prange "pointed instrument;" mid-15c., pronge "pain," from Anglo-Latin pronga "prong, pointed tool," of unknown origin, perhaps related to Middle Low German prange "stick, restraining device," prangen "to press, pinch." See also prod, which might be related. Prong-horned antelope is from 1815 (short form pronghorn attested from 1826).
reindeer (n.): c. 1400, from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse hreindyri "reindeer," from dyr "animal" (see deer) + hreinn, by itself the usual name for the animal, from Proto-Germanic *khrinda- (cognates: Old English hran "reindeer;" German Renn "reindeer," which was altered by folk etymology influence of rennen "to run;" Swedish ren-ko "female reindeer," with ko "cow" (n.)).

Probably from PIE *krei-, from base *ker- (1) "horn, head," with derivatives referring to horned animals (both male and female reindeer have horns; those of the male are remarkable), and thus perhaps cognate with Greek krios "ram" (see kerato-). Older sources connect it to words in Lapp or Finnish. French renne, Spanish reno, Italian renna ultimately are from Germanic.
rhinoceros (n.): c. 1300, from Latin rhinoceros, from Greek rhinokeros, literally "nose-horned," from rhinos "nose" (a word of unknown origin) + keras "horn" (see kerato-). Related: Rhinocerotic.
What is the plural of rhinoceros? ... Well, Liddell and Scott seem to authorize 'rhinocerotes,' which is pedantic, but 'rhinoceroses' is not euphonious. [Sir Charles Eliot, "The East Africa Protectorate," 1905]
shoehorn (v.): in the figurative sense of "to put or thrust (something somewhere) by means of a 'tool,' " 1859, from shoehorn (n.). Earlier it meant "to cuckold" (mid-17c.), with a play on horn (n.). Related: Shoehorned.
sidewinder (n.): small horned rattlesnake of southwestern U.S., 1875, American English, from side (adj.) + agent noun of wind (v.), so called in reference to its "peculiar lateral progressive motion." Also sidewiper (1888).
triceratops (n.): dinosaur genus, 1890, from Greek trikeratos "three-horned" + ops "face," literally "eye," from PIE *okw- "to see" (see eye (n.)). The first element is from tri- "three" (see three) + keras (genitive keratos) "horn" (see kerato-).
acridid: "An orthopteran insect of the family Acrididae, which includes locusts and typical (short-horned) grasshoppers", Late 19th cent. From scientific Latin Acrida, genus name ( Linnaeus Systema Naturae (ed. 10, 1758) I. 427; from ancient Greek ἀκρίδ-, ἀκρίς locust: see acrid) + -id, after scientific Latin Acridiidae, family name.
tragopan: "An Asian pheasant of highland forests, the male of which has brightly coloured plumage used in courtship", Modern Latin, from Greek, the name of a horned bird, from tragos 'goat' + the name Pan (see Pan).