英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

adder [adder 词源字典]: adder: [OE] In Old English, the term for a snake (any snake, not just an adder) was nǣddre; there are or were related forms in many other European languages, such as Latin natrix, Welsh neidr, and German natter (but there does not seem to be any connection with the natterjack toad). Around the 14th century, however, the word began to lose its initial consonant. The noun phrase including the indefinite article, a nadder, became misanalysed as an adder, and by the 17th century nadder had disappeared from the mainstream language (though it survived much longer in northern dialects).
[adder etymology, adder origin, 英语词源]
addle (v.): 1712, from addle (n.) "urine, liquid filth," from Old English adela "mud, mire, liquid manure" (cognate with Old Swedish adel "urine," Middle Low German adel, Dutch aal "puddle").

Used in noun phrase addle egg (mid-13c.) "egg that does not hatch, rotten egg," literally "urine egg," a loan-translation of Latin ovum urinum, which is itself an erroneous loan-translation of Greek ourion oon "putrid egg," literally "wind egg," from ourios "of the wind" (confused by Roman writers with ourios "of urine," from ouron "urine"). Because of this usage, from c. 1600 the noun in English was taken as an adjective meaning "putrid," and thence given a figurative extension to "empty, vain, idle," also "confused, muddled, unsound" (1706). The verb followed a like course. Related: Addled; addling.
bad-mouth (v.): "abuse someone verbally," 1941, probably ultimately from noun phrase bad mouth (1835), in Black English, "a curse, spell," translating an idiom found in African and West Indian languages. Related: Bad-mouthed; bad-mouthing.
emcee (n.): 1933, emsee, from pronunciation of M.C., abbreviation of master of ceremonies, a noun phrase attested from the 1660s.
end (n.): Old English ende "end, conclusion, boundary, district, species, class," from Proto-Germanic *andja (cognates: Old Frisian enda, Old Dutch ende, Dutch einde, Old Norse endir "end;" Old High German enti "top, forehead, end," German Ende, Gothic andeis "end"), originally "the opposite side," from PIE *antjo "end, boundary," from root *ant- "opposite, in front of, before" (see ante).
Worldly wealth he cared not for, desiring onely to make both ends meet. [Thomas Fuller, "The History of the Worthies of England," 1662]
Original sense of "outermost part" is obsolete except in phrase ends of the earth. Sense of "destruction, death" was in Old English. Meaning "division or quarter of a town" was in Old English. The end "the last straw, the limit" (in a disparaging sense) is from 1929. The end-man in minstrel troupes was one of the two at the ends of the semicircle of performers, who told funny stories and cracked jokes with the middle-man. U.S. football end zone is from 1909 (end for "side of the field occupied by one team" is from 1851). The noun phrase end-run is attested from 1893 in U.S. football; extended to military tactics by 1940. End time in reference to the end of the world is from 1917. To end it all "commit suicide" is attested by 1911. Be-all and end-all is from Shakespeare ("Macbeth" I.vii.5).
full (adj.): Old English full "containing all that can be received; having eaten or drunk to repletion; filled; perfect, entire, utter," from Proto-Germanic *fulla- "full" (cognates: Old Saxon full, Old Frisian ful, Dutch vol, Old High German fol, German voll, Old Norse fullr, Gothic fulls), from PIE *pele- (1) "to fill" (see poly-). Related: Fuller; fullest.

The adverb is Old English ful "very, fully, entirely, completely" and was common in Middle English (full well, full many, etc.); sense of "quite, exactly, precisely" is from 1580s. Full moon, one with its whole disc illuminated, was Old English fulles monan; first record of full-blood in reference to racial purity is from 1812. Full house is 1710 in the theatrical sense, 1887 in the poker sense (three of a kind and a pair, earlier full-hand, 1850). Full-dress (adj.) "appropriate to a formal occasion" is from 1761, from the noun phrase.
fungo (n.): "A fly ball hit to a player during fielding practice in which the batter (often a coach) tosses the ball into the air and hits it as it descends with a long and narrow bat." [Paul Dickson, "The Dickson Baseball Dictionary," 3rd ed., 2009], attested from 1867 (fungoes), baseball slang, of unknown origin; see Dickson's book for a listing of the guesses. Perhaps from a Scottish fung "to pitch, toss, fling;" perhaps from some dialectal fonge "catch," a relic of Old English fon "seize" (see fang), or possibly from the German cognate fangen. Not in OED 2nd ed. (1989). There does not seem to have been a noun phrase (a) fun go in use at the time. It formally resembles the Spanish and Italian words for "fungus."
good-time (adj.): 1928, from the noun phrase, from good (adj.) + time (n.). Expression to have a good time "enjoy oneself" attested from 1822; earlier have a good time of it (1771). To make good time "go fast" is from 1838. In Middle English, good time was "prosperous time," also "high time" (that something be done).
hard-line (adj.): "uncompromising," 1958, originally in reference to Soviet communist policies, from the noun phrase (see hard (adj.) + line (n.)) in the political sense. Related: Hard-liner (1963).
here: Old English her "in this place, where one puts himself," from Proto-Germanic pronominal stem *hi- (from PIE *ki- "this;" see he) + adverbial suffix -r. Cognate with Old Saxon her, Old Norse, Gothic her, Swedish här, Middle Dutch, Dutch hier, Old High German hiar, German hier.

Phrase here today and gone tomorrow first recorded 1680s in writings of Aphra Behn. Here's to _____ as a toast is from 1590s, probably short for here's health to _____. In vulgar speech, this here as an adjective is attested from 1762. To be neither here nor there "of no consequence" attested from 1580s. Here we go again as a sort of verbal roll of the eyes is attested from 1950. Noun phrase here and now "this present life" is from 1829.
instance (n.): mid-14c., "urgency," from Old French instance "eagerness, anxiety, solicitation" (13c.), from Latin instantia "presence, effort intention; earnestness, urgency," literally "a standing near," from instans (see instant). In Scholastic logic, "a fact or example" (early 15c.), from Medieval Latin instantia, used to translate Greek enstasis. This led to use in phrase for instance "as an example" (1650s), and the noun phrase To give (someone) a for instance (1953, American English).
new (adj.): Old English neowe, niowe, earlier niwe "new, fresh, recent, novel, unheard-of, different from the old; untried, inexperienced," from Proto-Germanic *newjaz (cognates: Old Saxon niuwi, Old Frisian nie, Middle Dutch nieuwe, Dutch nieuw, Old High German niuwl, German neu, Danish and Swedish ny, Gothic niujis "new"), from PIE *newo- "new" (cognates: Sanskrit navah, Persian nau, Hittite newash, Greek neos, Lithuanian naujas, Old Church Slavonic novu, Russian novyi, Latin novus, Old Irish nue, Welsh newydd "new").

The adverb is Old English niwe, from the adjective. New math in reference to a system of teaching mathematics based on investigation and discovery is from 1958. New World (adj.) to designate phenomena of the Western Hemisphere first attested 1823, in Lord Byron; the noun phrase is recorded from 1550s. New Deal in the FDR sense attested by 1932. New school in reference to the more advanced or liberal faction of something is from 1806. New Left (1960) was a coinage of U.S. political sociologist C. Wright Mills (1916-1962). New light in reference to religions is from 1640s. New frontier, in U.S. politics, "reform and social betterment," is from 1934 but associated with John F. Kennedy's use of it in 1960.
next-door (adv.): also nextdoor, 1570s, from noun phrase next door "nearest house" (late 15c.), from next + door. Noun meaning "the people living next door" is from 1855.
no-go (adj.): with sense "where it is forbidden to go," 1971, from no + go (v.). Earlier it was a noun phrase for an impracticable situation (1870).
old hat (adj.): "out of date," first recorded 1911. As a noun phrase, however, it had different sense previously. The "Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" (1796) defines it as, "a woman's privities, because frequently felt."
one-upsmanship (n.): 1952, from noun phrase one up "scoring one more point than one's opponent" (1919).
quality (n.): c. 1300, "temperament, character, disposition," from Old French qualite "quality, nature, characteristic" (12c., Modern French qualité), from Latin qualitatem (nominative qualitas) "a quality, property; nature, state, condition" (said [Tucker, etc.] to have been coined by Cicero to translate Greek poiotes), from qualis "what kind of a," from PIE pronominal base *kwo- (see who). Meaning "degree of goodness" is late 14c. Meaning "social rank, position" is c. 1400. Noun phrase quality time first recorded 1977. Quality of life is from 1943. Quality control first attested 1935.
real (adj.): early 14c., "actually existing, true;" mid-15c., "relating to things" (especially property), from Old French reel "real, actual," from Late Latin realis "actual," in Medieval Latin "belonging to the thing itself," from Latin res "matter, thing," of uncertain origin. Meaning "genuine" is recorded from 1550s; sense of "unaffected, no-nonsense" is from 1847.
Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. [Margery Williams, "The Velveteen Rabbit"]
Real estate, the exact term, is first recorded 1660s, but in Middle English real was used in law in reference to immovable property, paired with, and distinguished from, personal. Noun phrase real time is early 19c. as a term in logic and philosophy, 1953 as an adjectival phrase; get real, usually an interjection, was U.S. college slang in 1960s, reached wide popularity c. 1987.
second-class (adj.): 1833, from noun phrase (1810), from second (adj.) + class (n.). Phrase second-class citizen is recorded from 1942.
The Negro recognizes that he is a second-class citizen and that status is fraught with violent potentialities, particularly today when he is living up to the full responsibilities of citizenship on the field of battle. [Louis E. Martin, "To Be or Not to Be a Liberal," in "The Crisis," September 1942]
sell (v.): Old English sellan "to give, furnish, supply, lend; surrender, give up; deliver to; promise," from Proto-Germanic *saljan "offer up, deliver" (cognates: Old Norse selja "to hand over, deliver, sell;" Old Frisian sella, Old High German sellen "to give, hand over, sell;" Gothic saljan "to offer a sacrifice"), ultimately from PIE root *sel- (3) "to take, grasp."

Meaning "to give up for money" had emerged by c. 1000, but in Chaucer selle still can mean "to give." Students of Old English learn early that the word that looks like sell usually means "give." An Old English word for "to sell" was bebycgan, from bycgan "to buy."

Slang meaning "to swindle" is from 1590s. The noun phrase hard sell is recorded from 1952. To sell one's soul is from c. 1570. Sell-by date is from 1972. To sell like hot cakes is from 1839. Selling-point attested from 1959.

To sell (someone) down the river figuratively is by 1927, probably from or with recollection of slavery days, on notion of sale from the Upper South to the cotton plantations of the Deep South (attested in this literal sense since 1851).
small-time (adj.): 1910, originally theater slang for lower-salaried circuits, or ones requiring more daily performances; from noun phrase (also 1910). Compare big time.
small-town (adj.): "unsophisticated, provincial," 1824, from noun phrase, from small (adj.) + town.
state-of-the-art (adj.): 1961, from noun phrase (1816), from state (n.1) + art (n.).
strong-arm (adj.): "using physical force," 1897, from noun phrase (c. 1600), from strong (adj.) + arm (n.). As a verb from 1903. Related: Strong-armed; strong-arming.
sweet-talk (v.): Sweet-talk, 1935, from noun phrase; see sweet (adj.) + talk (n.). Earliest usages seem to refer to conversation between black and white in segregated U.S.
"I ain' gonna stay heah no longah. Don' nevah keer, ef I do git cotched--or die. Tha's bettah than to stay heah an' listen to Maw Haney sweet-talk the white folks, whilst they drives us clean to the grave. ..." ["The Crisis," July 1935]
Latin had suaviloquens, literally "sweet-spoken."
warp (n.): "threads running lengthwise in a fabric," Old English wearp, from Proto-Germanic *warpo- (cognates: Middle Low German warp, Old High German warf "warp," Old Norse varp "cast of a net"), from PIE *werp- "to turn, bend" (see warp (v.)). The warp of fabric is that across which the woof is "thrown." Applied in 20c. astrophysics to the "fabric" of space-time, popularized in noun phrase warp speed by 1960s TV series "Star Trek."
wear (n.): "action of wearing" (clothes), mid-15c., from wear (v.). Meaning "what one wears" is 1560s. To be the worse for wear is attested from 1782; noun phrase wear and tear is first recorded 1660s, implying the sense "process of being degraded by use."
whiz (n.): "clever person," 1914, probably a special use of whiz "something remarkable" (1908), an extended sense of whizz; or perhaps a shortened and altered form of wizard. Noun phrase whiz kid is from 1930s, a take-off on a radio show's quiz kid.