英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

knee-jerk (n.)[knee-jerk 词源字典]: patellar reflex, neurological phenomenon discovered and named 1876; the figurative use appeared soon after the phrase was coined.[knee-jerk etymology, knee-jerk origin, 英语词源]
nerve (n.): late 14c., nerf "sinew, tendon," from Old French nerf and directly from Medieval Latin nervus "nerve," from Latin nervus "sinew, tendon; cord, bowstring," metathesis of pre-Latin *neuros, from PIE *(s)neu- "tendon, sinew" (cognates: Sanskrit snavan- "band, sinew," Armenian neard "sinew," Greek neuron "sinew, tendon," in Galen "nerve"). Sense of "fibers that convey impulses between the brain and the body" is from c. 1600.

Secondary senses developed from meaning "strength, vigor, energy" (c. 1600), from the "sinew" sense. Hence figurative sense of "feeling, courage," first attested c. 1600; that of "courage, boldness" is from 1809; bad sense "impudence, cheek" is from 1887. Latin nervus also had a figurative sense of "vigor, force, power, strength," as did Greek neuron. From the neurological sense come Nerves "condition of nervousness," attested from 1792; to get on someone's nerves, from 1895. War of nerves "psychological warfare" is from 1915.
nervous (adj.): c. 1400, "affecting the sinews," from Latin nervosus "sinewy, vigorous," from nervus "sinew, nerve" (see nerve). Meaning "of or belonging to the nerves" in the modern sense is from 1660s. Meaning "suffering disorder of the nervous system" is from 1734; illogical sense "restless, agitated, lacking nerve" is 1740. Widespread popular use as a euphemism for mental forced the medical community to coin neurological to replace it in the older sense. Nervous wreck first attested 1862. Related: Nervously; nervousness.
neurology (n.): "scientific study of the nervous system," 1680s, from Modern Latin neurologia, from Modern Greek neurologia (1660s), from neuro- (see neuro-) + -logia "study" (see -logy). Related: Neurological.
moria: "Originally: impairment of the intellectual faculties; mental dullness or retardation. Later: inappropriate jocularity, as a sign of mental illness or neurological disease", Late 17th cent.; earliest use found in Blankaart's Physical Dictionary. From post-classical Latin moria folly, foolishness (Erasmus) from ancient Greek μωρία from μωρός, μῶρος foolish + -ία.
tardive dyskinesia: "A neurological disorder characterized by involuntary movements of the face and jaw", 1960s: tardive from French tardif, tardive (see tardy).