aeolian harpyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[aeolian harp 词源字典]
aeolian harp: [18] Aeolus was the Greek god of the winds (the form of the name is Latin; the original Greek was Aiolos, deriving from the adjective aiolos ‘quick-moving’). Hence the application of the epithet to a musical instrument whose strings are sounded by the breeze blowing over them. The term is first recorded in the writings of Erasmus Darwin, at the end of the 18th century.
[aeolian harp etymology, aeolian harp origin, 英语词源]
cinemayoudaoicibaDictYouDict
cinema: [20] The cinema is so named because it shows moving pictures. The Greek verb for ‘move’ was kīnein (source of English kinetic and, via the related Latin cīre, a range of -cite words, including excite, incite, and recite). Its noun derivative was kínēma ‘movement’, from which in 1896 Auguste and Louis Jean Lumière coined the French term cinématographe for their new invention for recording and showing moving pictures.

This and its abbreviated form cinéma soon entered English, the latter in 1909. In early years the graecized form kinema had some currency in English, but this had virtually died out by the 1940s.

=> cite, excite, kinetic, incite, recite
coupéyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
coupé: [19] Coupé is the past participle of the French verb couper ‘cut’, and it was originally applied in the early 19th century to a type of four-wheeled covered carriage (in full a carrosse coupé ‘cut-off carriage’). The notion behind the term is a truncated version of an earlier type of coach, known as a berlin, achieved by removing the rear seat. The first record of its application to closed two-door cars comes in 1908.

The French verb couper is a derivative of the noun coup ‘blow’ (itself borrowed into English in the 18th century), which in turn came from medieval Latin colpus (ultimate source of English coppice, which etymologically denotes the ‘cutting down’ of trees). Earlier in time the word can be traced back via Latin colaphus to Greek kólaphos ‘blow, punch’.

A related word is coupon, borrowed from French in the 19th century.

=> coppice, copse, coup
cuirassyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
cuirass: [15] A cuirass ‘breastplate’ is literally, and was originally, a piece of body armour made of leather. The word comes, via French cuirasse, from Vulgar Latin *coriācia, a nominal use of the Latin adjective coriāceus ‘made of leather’. This was a derivative of corium ‘leather’, which came ultimately from the Indo-European base *ker- or *sker- ‘cut’ (source also of English shear), the underlying notion being of removing the animal’s hide with a knife. Other descendants of Latin corium include French cuir and Spanish cuero, both meaning ‘leather’.
=> curtail, shear, shirt, short, skirt
emotionyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
emotion: [16] The semantic notion underlying emotion – of applying ‘physical movement’ metaphorically to ‘strong feeling’ – is an ancient one: Latin used the phrase mōtus animā, literally ‘movement of the spirit’, in this sense. Emotion itself is a post-classical Latin formation; it comes ultimately from Vulgar Latin *exmovēre, literally ‘move out’, hence ‘excite’, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and movēre ‘move’ (source of English move).

In French this became émouvoir, and English borrowed its derived noun émotion, but at first used it only in the literal sense ‘moving, agitation’ (‘The waters continuing in the caverns … caused the emotion or earthquake’, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society 1758) and the metaphorically extended ‘political agitation or disturbance’ (a sense now preserved only in émeute [19], another derivative of French émouvoir).

It was not until the late 17th century that the sense ‘strong feeling’ really came to the fore. The back-formation emote is a 20th-century phenomenon, of US origin.

=> émeute, move
energyyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
energy: [16] Energy comes ultimately from Greek érgon ‘deed, work’. This was a descendant of Indo-European *wergon, which also produced English work, liturgy, organ, and orgy. Addition of the prefix en- ‘at’ produced the adjective energés or energōs ‘at work’, hence ‘active’, which Aristotle used in his Rhetoric as the basis of a noun enérgeia, signifying a metaphor which conjured up an image of something moving or being active. This later came to mean ‘forceful expression’, or more broadly still ‘activity, operation’. English acquired the word via late Latin energīa.
=> liturgy, organ, orgy, work
escalateyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
escalate: [20] Escalate is a back-formation from escalator [20], which was originally a tradename for a moving staircase first made in the USA around 1900 by the Otis Elevator Company. This in turn seems to have been coined (probably on the model of elevator) from escalade [16], a term in medieval warfare signifying the scaling of a fortified wall, which came via French and Spanish from medieval Latin scalāre, source of English scale ‘climb’. Escalate originally meant simply ‘ascend on an escalator’; the metaphorical sense ‘increase’ developed at the end of the 1950s.
expressyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
express: [14] Something that is expressed is literally ‘pressed out’. The word comes via Old French from Vulgar Latin *expressāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and pressāre ‘press’. Its meaning developed metaphorically from ‘press out’ to ‘form by pressure’ (presumably applied originally to modelling in clay or some similar substance, and subsequently to sculpture and then painting), and finally to ‘make known in words’.

The Vulgar Latin verb was in fact moving in on territory already occupied by its classical Latin forerunner exprimere (source of French exprimer ‘express’ and perhaps of English sprain [17]). The past participle of this was expressus, used adjectivally for ‘prominent, distinct, explicit’. Old French took it over as expres and passed it on to English in the 14th century.

By now its meaning was moving towards ‘intended for a particular purpose’, and in the 19th century it was applied to ‘special’ trains (as in ‘football specials’). It did not take long, however, for this to slip via ‘train for people wanting to go to a particular place, and therefore not stopping anywhere else’ to ‘fast train’. Hence the modern sense of express, ‘fast’, was born.

=> espresso, press, sprain
faxyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
fax: [20] Fax is a sleeper of a word. The technology of facsimile telegraphy, by which a document is scanned and its image transmitted via a telegraphic link, had been around since the 1870s, but the word fax was not invented for it (in the USA, by the simple expedient of removing the end of facsimile) until the 1940s. Even then, faxes were not widely known about outside the world of commerce, and it was only in the 1970s that the technology, and with it the word (by now a verb as well as a noun), became an everyday phenomenon. Facsimile [17], incidentally, is simply a lexicalization of Latin fac simile ‘make similar’.
filteryoudaoicibaDictYouDict
filter: [14] Ultimately, filter is the same word as felt – and indeed that is what it first meant in English (‘They dwell all in tents made of black filter’, John Mandeville, Travels 1400). It comes via Old French filtre from medieval Latin filtrum, which was borrowed from prehistoric West Germanic *filtiz, source of English felt. The modern sense of filter did not develop until the 17th century; it came from the use of felt for removing impurities from liquid. The derivative infiltrate dates from the 18th century. (The homophonic philtre [16] is not related; it comes ultimately from Greek phílos ‘beloved’.)
=> felt, infiltrate
fromyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
from: [OE] From goes back ultimately to Indo- European *pr, which also produced English first, for, fore, foremost, former, and before. The addition of a suffix -m gave a word denoting ‘forward movement, advancement’ (as in Greek prómos ‘foremost’). By the time it reached Old English as from or fram the notion of ‘moving forward or onward’ had passed into ‘moving away’. The related fro [12], now little used except in to and fro, comes from Old Norse frá.
=> before, first, for, fore, former, forth, fro, primary
glacieryoudaoicibaDictYouDict
glacier: [18] Latin glaciēs meant ‘ice’ (it probably came from Indo-European *gel- ‘cold’, which also produced English cold and Latin gelidus ‘cold’). Its Vulgar Latin descendant was *glacia, which passed into French as glace (whence English glacé ‘iced, crystallized’ [19]). A derivative glacière was used in Frenchspeaking areas of the Alps for a ‘moving mass of ice’. It later became glacier, the form in which English borrowed it. Glacial [17] comes from the Latin derivative glaciālis.
=> cold, glance, jelly
locomotiveyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
locomotive: [17] Locomotive denotes etymologically ‘moving by change of place’. It is an anglicization of modern Latin locōmōtīvus, a compound formed from locus ‘place’ and mōtīvus ‘causing to move’ (source of English motive). Originally it was used strictly as an adjective, and it was not until the early 19th century that the present-day noun use (which began life as an abbreviation of locomotive engine) emerged.
motoryoudaoicibaDictYouDict
motor: [16] The most direct English descendant of Latin movēre ‘move’ is of course move, but several more have found their way into the language via derivatives. From mōtiō ‘movement’ comes motion [15] (and its collateral forms commotion [15], emotion, and promotion [15]); from mōtīvus ‘causing to move’ come motivate [19], motive [14], and (via modern French) motif [19]; and mōtor ‘mover’ has given motor.

Originally this was used for the rather generalized notion of a ‘moving force’; the modern application to an ‘engine’ did not emerge until the mid-19th century. Also from movēre come English moment and mutiny.

=> commotion, emotion, moment, motif, motion, motive, move, mutiny, promotion
puppetyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
puppet: [16] Puppet, like its variant poppet [14], originally meant ‘doll’. It comes from Old French poupette, a diminutive form of *poupe ‘doll’. This in turn came from Vulgar Latin *puppa, a descendant of Latin pūpa ‘girl, doll’ (source of English pupa and pupil). The application to a ‘moving doll controlled by strings’ developed in the 16th century; in the case of poppet it has since died out, but it has taken over puppet completely.
=> pupil
slugyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
slug: English has at least two, possibly four distinct words slug. The oldest, ‘shell-less mollusc’ [15], originally meant ‘slow or lazy person’. It was not applied to the slow-moving animal until the 18th century. It was probably a borrowing from a Scandinavian source (Norwegian has a dialectal slugg ‘large heavy body’). A similar ancestor, such as Swedish dialect slogga ‘be lazy’, may lie behind the now obsolete English verb slug ‘be lazy’, from which were derived sluggard [14] and sluggish [14]. Slug ‘bullet’ [17] is of uncertain origin.

It may have come from slug ‘mollusc’, in allusion to the shape of the animal, but that suggestion depends on the supposition that slug was being used for the mollusc at least a hundred years before our earliest written record of it. Slug ‘swig of drink’ [18] may be the same word, but it has also been speculated that it comes from Irish Gaelic slog ‘swallow’. Slug ‘hit’ [19] and the related slog [19] probably go back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *slakh-, *slag-, *slōg- ‘hit’ (source of English slaughter, slay, etc).

=> slog
soulyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
soul: [OE] Behind the word soul lies the ancient notion of the soul as something fleeting or mercurial. For its prehistoric Germanic ancestor, *saiwalō, was related to Greek aiólos ‘quickmoving’. Its modern Germanic cousins include German seele, Dutch ziel, Swedish själ, and Danish sjæl.
stillyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
still: The adjective still ‘not moving’ [OE] comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *stillja or *stellja, which also produced German still and Dutch stil. It was derived from the base *stel- ‘fixed, not moving, standing’ (a variant of which lies behind English stalemate and stall). It was used as an adverb in the Old English period, denoting ‘not changing physical position’, and this gradually evolved metaphorically via ‘never changing or stopping, always’ to (in the 16th century) ‘until now’.

The noun still ‘distilling apparatus’ [16] is of course a different word. It comes from the now defunct verb still ‘distil’. This was short for distil [14], which came from Latin distillāre, a derivative ultimately of the noun stilla ‘drop’ (source also of English instil [16]).

=> stalemate, stall; distil, instil
swiftyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
swift: [OE] The etymological meaning of swift appears to be ‘moving along a course’; ‘speed’ is a secondary development. It goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *swei- ‘swing, bend’, which also produced English sweep, swivel [14], and the long defunct swive ‘copulate with’ (a descendant of Old English swīfan ‘move in a course’). Its use as a name for the fast-flying swallow-like bird dates from the 17th century.
=> sweep, swivel
weaveyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
weave: English has two distinct verbs weave, but they have grown to resemble each other closely over the centuries. Weave ‘make cloth’ [OE] goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *weben, which also produced German weben, Dutch weven, Swedish väva, and Danish voeve. It was formed from the base *web-, *wab- (source also of English wafer, web, and weft [OE]), which in turn went back to Indo-European *webh-, *wobh-, probable source of English wasp. Weave ‘take a zigzag course’ [13] was probably borrowed from Old Norse veifa.

This was descended from prehistoric Germanic *weibjan, which came from the Indo-European base *weib-, *wib- ‘move quickly’ (source also of English vibrate, whip, and wipe). At first it meant ‘move about, travel’ (‘Then the evil ghost fares out of the man and weaves wide … seeking rest’, 11th-century English poem). The notion of ‘moving from side to side, threading one’s way’ did not emerge until the 16th century, presumably through the influence of the other verb weave.

=> wafer, wasp, web, weft; vibrate, whip, wipe
windyoudaoicibaDictYouDict
wind: English has three distinct words wind. The noun, ‘moving air’ [OE], came from a prehistoric Germanic *windaz, which also produced German and Dutch wind and Swedish and Danish vind. This in turn went back to Indo- European *went-, whose other descendants include Latin ventus (source of English vent, ventilate, etc) and Welsh gwynt.

And *wentitself was derived from the base *we- ‘blow’, source also of Greek aétēs ‘wind’ and áēr ‘air’ (from which English gets air), Sanskrit vátas ‘wind’, and Russian vejat’ ‘blow’. The now archaic verb wind ‘blow a horn’ [16], for all that it rhymes with wind ‘wrap round’, was derived from the noun wind. Wind ‘wrap round’ [OE] originally meant ‘go in a particular direction’; ‘wrap’ did not emerge until the 14th century, via an intermediate ‘go in a circle’.

It came from a prehistoric Germanic *windon (source also of German and Dutch winden, Swedish vinda, and Danish vinde), which was formed from a variant of the base which produced English wand, wander, and wend.

=> air, vent, ventilate, weather, winnow; wand, wander, went
act (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
late 14c., "a thing done," from Old French acte "(official) document," and directly from Latin actus "a doing, a driving, impulse; a part in a play, act," and actum "a thing done," originally a legal term, both from agere "to do, set in motion, drive, urge, chase, stir up," from PIE root *ag- "to drive, draw out or forth, move" (cognates: Greek agein "to lead, guide, drive, carry off," agon "assembly, contest in the games," agogos "leader;" Sanskrit ajati "drives," ajirah "moving, active;" Old Norse aka "to drive;" Middle Irish ag "battle").

Theatrical ("part of a play," 1510s) and legislative (early 15c.) senses of the word also were in Latin. Meaning "display of exaggerated behavior" is from 1928. In the act "in the process" is from 1590s, perhaps originally from the 16c. sense of the act as "sexual intercourse." Act of God "uncontrollable natural force" recorded by 1726.
An act of God is an accident which arises from a cause which operates without interference or aid from man (1 Pars. on Cont. 635); the loss arising wherefrom cannot be guarded against by the ordinary exertions of human skill and prudence so as to prevent its effect. [William Wait, "General Principles of the Law," Albany, 1879]
Aeolian (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1600, "of the wind," from Latin Æolus "god of the winds," from Greek Aiolos, from aiolos "quickly moving." Æolian harp first recorded 1791. The ancient district of Aiolis in Asia Minor was said to have been named for the wind god, hence Æolian also refers to one branch of the ancient Greek people.
ailurophobia (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"morbid fear of cats," 1905, from -phobia "fear" + ailouros "cat," which is of unknown origin. Folk etymology connects it with aiolos "quick-moving" + oura "tail." Related: Ailurophobe (1914).
amidst (prep.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
a variant of amid (q.v.) with adverbial genitive -s and parasitic -t. Amidde became amyddes (13c.) and acquired a -t by 1560s, probably by association with superlatives in -st.
There is a tendency to use amidst more distributively than amid, e.g. of things scattered about, or a thing moving, in the midst of others. [OED]
animated (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1530s, "alive," past participle adjective from animate (v.). Meaning "mentally excited" is from 1530s; "full of activity" from 1580s. The "moving pictures" sense is attested from 1895; of cartoons from 1897. Related: Animatedly.
anodyne (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1540s, from Medieval Latin anodynus "pain-removing, allaying pain," from Latin anodynus "painless," from Greek anodynos "free from pain," from an- "without" (see an- (1)) + odyne "pain," a word perhaps from PIE root *ed- "to eat" (source of Lithuanian edžioti "to devour, bite," edžiotis "to suffer pain;" see eat). In old slang, frequently a euphemism for "death;" as in anodyne necklace "hangman's noose."
ascendant (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
late 14c., ascendent, astrological use is earliest, from Middle French ascendant (noun and adjective) and directly from Latin ascendentem (nominative ascendans), present participle of ascendere "to mount, ascend, go up" (see ascend). Sense "moving upward, rising" is recorded from 1590s. In the ascendant "ruling, dominant" (not, as is often thought, "rising") is from 1670s.
automatic (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"self-acting, moving or acting on its own," 1812, from Greek automatos, used of the gates of Olympus and the tripods of Hephaestus (also "without apparent cause, by accident"), from autos "self" (see auto-) + matos "thinking, animated" (see automaton). Of involuntary animal or human actions, from 1748, first used in this sense by English physician and philosopher David Hartley (1705-1757). In reference to a type of firearm, from 1877; specifically of machinery that imitates human-directed action from 1940.
automobile (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1883, in reference to electric traction cars, from French automobile (adj.), 1861, a hybrid from Greek autos "self" (see auto-) + French mobile "moving," from Latin mobilis "movable" (see mobile (adj.)).
biopic (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
also bio-pic, 1951, from biographical + (moving) picture. Frequent from mid-1951 in "Billboard" and possibly coined there.
careen (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1590s, "to turn a ship on its side" (with the keel exposed), from French cariner, literally "to expose a ship's keel," from Middle French carene "keel" (16c.), from Italian (Genoese dialect) carena, from Latin carina "keel of a ship," originally "nutshell," possibly from PIE root *kar- "hard" (see hard (adj.)).

Intransitive sense of "to lean, to tilt" is from 1763, specifically of ships; in general use by 1883. In sense "to rush headlong," confused with career (v.) since at least 1923. [To career is to move rapidly; to careen is to lurch from side to side (often while moving rapidly).] Earlier figurative uses of careen were "to be laid up; to rest." Related: Careened; careening.
creek (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-15c., creke "narrow inlet in a coastline," altered from kryk (early 13c.; in place names from 12c.), probably from Old Norse kriki "corner, nook," perhaps influenced by Anglo-French crique, itself from a Scandinavian source via Norman. Perhaps ultimately related to crook and with an original notion of "full of bends and turns" (compare dialectal Swedish krik "corner, bend; creek, cove").

Extended to "inlet or short arm of a river" by 1570s, which probably led to use for "small stream, brook" in American English (1620s). Also used there and in Canada, Australia, New Zealand for "branch of a main river," possibly from explorers moving up main rivers and seeing and noting mouths of tributaries without knowing they often were extensive rivers of their own. Slang phrase up the creek "in trouble," often especially "pregnant," first recorded 1941, perhaps originally armed forces slang for "lost while on patrol."
cyclic (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1794, from French cyclique (16c.), from Latin cyclicus, from Greek kyklikos "moving in a circle," from kyklos (see cycle (n.)).
cyclone (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1848, coined by British East India Company official Henry Piddington to describe the devastating storm of December 1789 in Coringa, India; irregularly formed from Greek kyklon "moving in a circle, whirling around," present participle of kykloun "move in a circle, whirl," from kyklos "circle" (see cycle (n.)). Applied to tornados from 1856.
direction (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1400, "orderly arrangement;" c. 1500 as "action of directing," from Latin directionem (nominative directio), noun of action from past participle stem of dirigere (see direct (v.)). Meaning "course pursued by a moving object" is from 1660s. Related: Directional.
DoppleryoudaoicibaDictYouDict
1871, in reference to Christian Doppler (1803-1853), Austrian scientist, who in 1842 explained the effect of relative motion on waves (originally to explain color changes in binary stars); proved by musicians performing on a moving train. Doppler shift is the change of frequency resulting from the Doppler effect. The surname is literally "Gambler."
dubious (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1540s, from Latin dubiosus "doubtful," from dubium "doubt," neuter of dubius "vacillating, moving two ways, fluctuating;" figuratively "wavering in opinion, doubting, doubtful," from duo "two" (see two), with a sense of "of two minds, undecided between two things." Old English also used tweo "two" to mean "doubt." Compare doubt (v.). Related: Dubiously; dubiousness.
emotion (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1570s, "a (social) moving, stirring, agitation," from Middle French émotion (16c.), from Old French emouvoir "stir up" (12c.), from Latin emovere "move out, remove, agitate," from assimilated form of ex- "out" (see ex-) + movere "to move" (see move (v.)). Sense of "strong feeling" is first recorded 1650s; extended to any feeling by 1808.
epicycle (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"small circle moving on or around another circle," late 14c., from Late Latin epicyclus, from Greek epikyklos, from epi (see epi-) + kyklos (see cycle (n.)). Related: Epicyclic.
epistrophe (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1640s, from Late Latin epistrophe, from Greek epistrophe "a turning about, twisting, a turning (of affairs), a moving up and down," from epi "upon" (see epi-) + strophe "a turning" (see strophe). In rhetoric, a figure in which successive phrases are followed by the same word of affirmation; also used in music. Related: Epistrophic.
eraser (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"thing that erases writing," 1790, American English, agent noun from erase. Originally a knife for scraping off the ink. As a rubber product for removing pencil marks, from 1858.
erratic (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
late 14c., "wandering, moving," from Old French erratique "wandering, vagrant" (13c.) and directly from Latin erraticus "wandering, straying, roving," from erratum "an error, mistake, fault," past participle of errare "to wander, err" (see err). Sense of "irregular, eccentric" is attested by 1841. The noun is from 1620s, of persons; 1849, of boulders. Related: Erratically.
escalator (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1900, American English, trade name of an Otis Elevator Co. moving staircase, coined from escalade + -ator in elevator. Figurative use is from 1927.
exemption (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1400, from Old French exemption, exencion or directly from Latin exemptionem (nominative exemptio) "a taking out, removing," noun of action from past participle stem of eximere "take out, take away, remove" (see exempt (adj.)).
fan (n.1)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
device to make an air current, Old English fann (West Saxon) "a basket or shovel for winnowing grain" (by tossing it in the air), from Latin vannus, perhaps related to ventus "wind" (see wind (n.1)), or from PIE root *wet- (1) "to blow" (also "to inspire, spiritually arouse;" see wood (adj.)).

The chaff, being lighter, would blow off. Sense of "device for moving air" first recorded late 14c.; the hand-held version is first attested 1550s. A fan-light (1819) was shaped like a lady's fan. The automobile's fan-belt is from 1909. Fan-dance is from 1872 in a Japanese context; by 1937 as a type of burlesque performance.
fantods (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1835, jocular formation, perhaps based on fantasy.
There is an indescribable complaint, which will never allow a moment's repose to mind or body; which nothing will satisfy--which allows of no beginning, and no ending--which wheels round the mind like the squirrel in its cage, ever moving, but still making no progress. It is called the Fantods. From the diagnostics, we pronounce Lord Brougham incurably diseased with the Fantods. ["The Metropolitan," London, October 1835]
fleeting (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
early 13c., "fickle, shifting, unstable," from Old English fleotende "floating, drifting," later "flying, moving swiftly," from present participle of fleotan "to float, drift, flow" (see fleet (v.)). Meaning "existing only briefly" is from 1560s. Related: Fleetingly.
flock (n.1)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English flocc "a group of persons, company, troop," related to Old Norse flokkr "crowd, troop, band," Middle Low German vlocke "crowd, flock (of sheep);" of unknown origin, not found in other Germanic languages; perhaps related to folc "people," but the metathesis would have been unusual for Old English.

In Old English of humans only; extended c. 1200 to "a number of animals of one kind moving or feeding together;" of domestic animals c. 1300. The special reference to birds is recent (19c.). Transferred to bodies of Christians, in relation to Christ or their pastor, from mid-14c.
fluctuant (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"moving like a wave," 1550s, from Latin fluctuantem (nominative fluctuans), present participle of fluctuare "to move in waves" (see fluctuation).