quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- dapper[dapper 词源字典]
- dapper: [15] Modern English dapper connotes neatness, alertness, and liveliness, but its etymological significance as revealed by distant relatives such as Old High German tapfar ‘heavy’, Old Prussian debīkan ‘large’, and Old Slavic debelu ‘thick’, is ‘heavy’. The notion of ‘weightiness’ spread to ‘firmness, endurance in battle’, and hence ‘courage’ (German tapfer and Dutch dapper both mean ‘brave’). English acquired the word, with an apparently ironical change of meaning, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German dapper ‘heavy, stout, bold’.
[dapper etymology, dapper origin, 英语词源] - vegetable
- vegetable: [14] Latin vegēre meant ‘be active’ (it was formed from the same Indo-European base as lies behind English vigil, vigour, and wake). From it was derived vegetus ‘active’, which in turn formed the basis of vegetāre ‘enliven, animate’. From this again came late Latin vegetābilis ‘enlivening’, which came to be applied specifically to plant growth.
It was in this sense that the word entered English (via Old French vegetable), and it was not further narrowed down to ‘plant grown for food’ until the 18th century. Its semantic descent from its original links with ‘life, liveliness’ was completed in the early 20th century, when vegetable came to be used for an ‘inactive person’. The derivative vegetarian was formed in the early 1840s, and vegan was coined from this around 1944.
=> vigil, vigour, wake - vigour
- vigour: [14] Latin vigēre meant ‘be lively, flourish’ (it came from the Indo-European base *wog-, *weg- ‘be lively or active’, which also produced English vigil, wake and watch). From it was derived the noun vigor ‘liveliness’, which passed into English via Old French vigour. From the same source come vigorous [14] and invigorate [17].
=> invigorate, vigil - wake
- wake: English has two distinct words wake. The older, ‘not sleep’ [OE], goes back ultimately to the prolific Indo-European base *wog-, *weg- ‘be active or lively’. This proliferated semantically in many directions, including ‘growth’ (in which it gave English vegetable) and ‘staying awake’, which developed into ‘watching’ and from there into ‘guarding’ (all three preserved in vigil).
The original sense ‘liveliness’ is represented in vigour. The prehistoric Germanic base *wak- took over the ‘not sleep, watch’ group of senses. From it was derived the verb *wakōjan, which subsequently split into two in English, producing wake and watch. The noun wake, which (unlike the verb) preserves the ‘watch’ strand of meaning (now specialized to ‘watching over a dead body’), comes from the same base. Waken [12] was borrowed from the related Old Norse vakna. Wake ‘track of a boat’ [16] probably came via Middle Low German wake from Old Norse vök ‘hole in the ice’.
=> vegetable, vigil, vigour, waft, wait, watch - activity (n.)
- c. 1400, "active or secular life," from Old French activité, from Medieval Latin activitatem (nominative activitas), a word in Scholastic philosophy, from Latin activus (see active). Meaning "state of being active, briskness, liveliness" recorded from 1520s; that of "capacity for acting on matter" is from 1540s.
- alacrity (n.)
- mid-15c., from Latin alacritatem (nominative alacritas) "liveliness, ardor, eagerness," from alacer (genitive alacris) "cheerful, brisk, lively;" which is of uncertain origin, perhaps cognate with Gothic aljan "zeal," Old English ellen "courage, zeal, strength," Old High German ellian.
- brio (n.)
- "liveliness, vivacity," 1734, from Italian brio, literally "mettle, fire, life," perhaps a shortened derivative of Latin ebrius "drunk." Or via Provençal briu "vigor," from Celtic *brig-o- "strength," from PIE root *gwere- (2) "heavy" (see grave (adj.)). Probably entered English via musical instruction con brio.
- effervescence (n.)
- 1650s, "the action of boiling up," from French effervescence (1640s), from Latin effervescentem, present participle of effervescere "to boil up, boil over," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + fervescere "begin to boil," from fervere "be hot, boil" (see brew). Figurative sense of "liveliness" is from 1748. Related: Effervescency.
- esprit (n.)
- 1590s, "liveliness, wit, vivacity," from Middle French esprit "spirit, mind," from Old French espirit "spirit, soul" (12c.), from Latin spiritus "spirit" (see spirit (n.)). For initial e-, see e-.
Esprit de corps, recorded from 1780 in English, preserves the usual French sense. French also has the excellent phrase esprit de l'escalier, literally "spirit of the staircase," defined in OED as, "a retort or remark that occurs to a person after the opportunity to make it has passed." It also has espirit fort, a "strong-minded" person, one independent of current prejudices, especially a freethinker in religion. - livelihood (n.)
- 1610s, alteration of livelode "means of keeping alive" (c. 1300), from Old English lifad "course of life," from lif "life" + lad "way, course" (see load). Similar formation in Old High German libleita. Spelling assimilated to words in -hood. Earlier livelihood was a different word, meaning "liveliness," from lively.
- perk (v.)
- late 14c., "to make oneself trim or smart," perhaps from Old North French perquer "to perch" (Modern French percher; see perch (n.1)), on notion of a bird preening its plumage. Sense of "raise oneself briskly" is first attested 1520s; perk up "recover liveliness" is from 1650s. Related: Perked; perking.
- vigor (n.)
- c. 1300, "physical strength, energy in an activity," from Anglo-French vigour, Old French vigor "force, strength" (Modern French vigueur), from Latin vigorem (nominative vigor) "liveliness, activity, force," from vigere "be lively, flourish, thrive," from PIE root *weg- (2) "be lively or active" (see wake (v.)).
- vivacity (n.)
- early 15c., "liveliness, vigor," from Old French vivacite or directly from Latin vivacitatem (nominative vivacitas) "vital force, liveliness," from vivax (genitive vivacis) "lively," also "long-lived," from vivere "to live" (see vital).
- wake (v.)
- "to become awake," a Middle English merger of Old English wacan "to become awake, arise, be born, originate," and Old English wacian "to be or remain awake," both from Proto-Germanic *waken (cognates: Old Saxon wakon, Old Norse vaka, Danish vaage, Old Frisian waka, Dutch waken, Old High German wahhen, German wachen "to be awake," Gothic wakan "to watch"), from PIE root *weg- (2) "to be strong, be lively" (cognates: Sanskrit vajah "force, strength; swiftness, speed," vajayati "drives on;" Latin vigil "watchful, awake," vigere "be lively, thrive," velox "fast, lively," vegere "to enliven;" vigil "awake, wakeful," vigor "liveliness, activity"). Causative sense "to rouse from sleep" is attested from c. 1300. Related: Waked; waking.