quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- pandemonium[pandemonium 词源字典]
- pandemonium: [17] Pandemonium was coined by John Milton as the name for the capital of Hell in his poem Paradise lost 1667: ‘Meanwhile the winged heralds … throughout the host proclaim a solemn council forthwith to be held at Pandaemonium, the high capital of Satan and his peers’. He formed it from the prefix pan- ‘all’ and Greek daímōn ‘demon’ – hence ‘place of all the demons’. The modern colloquial use of the word for ‘uproar’ developed in the mid-19th century.
=> demon[pandemonium etymology, pandemonium origin, 英语词源] - geek (n.)
- "sideshow freak," 1916, U.S. carnival and circus slang, perhaps a variant of geck "a fool, dupe, simpleton" (1510s), apparently from Dutch gek or Low German geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian meaning "to croak, cackle," and also "to mock, cheat" (Dutch gekken, German gecken, Danish gjække, Swedish gäcka). The modern form and the popular use with reference to circus sideshow "wild men" is from 1946, in William Lindsay Gresham's novel "Nightmare Alley" (made into a film in 1947 starring Tyrone Power).
"An ordinary geek doesn't actually eat snakes, just bites off chunks of 'em, chicken heads and rats." [Arthur H. Lewis, "Carnival," 1970]
By c. 1983, used in teenager slang in reference to peers who lacked social graces but were obsessed with new technology and computers (such as the Anthony Michael Hall character in 1984's "Sixteen Candles").
geek out vi. To temporarily enter techno-nerd mode while in a non-hackish context, for example at parties held near computer equipment. [Eric S. Raymond, "The New Hacker's Dictionary," 1996]
- Oliver
- masc. personal name, in medieval lore the name of one of Charlemagne's peers, friend of Roland, from French Olivier, from Middle Low German Alfihar, literally "elf-host, elf-army," from alf "elf" (see elf) + hari "host, army" (see harry (v.)). Cognate with Anglo-Saxon name Ælfhere. Form influenced in Old French by olivier "olive tree."
- pandemonium (n.)
- 1667, Pandæmonium, in "Paradise Lost" the name of the palace built in the middle of Hell, "the high capital of Satan and all his peers," coined by John Milton (1608-1674) from Greek pan- "all" (see pan-) + Late Latin daemonium "evil spirit," from Greek daimonion "inferior divine power," from daimon "lesser god" (see demon).
Transferred sense "place of uproar" is from 1779; that of "wild, lawless confusion" is from 1865. Related: Pandemoniac; pandemoniacal; pandemonian; pandemonic. - peer (n.)
- c. 1300, "an equal in rank or status" (early 13c. in Anglo-Latin), from Anglo-French peir, Old French per (10c.), from Latin par "equal" (see par (n.)). Sense of "a noble" (late 14c.) is from Charlemagne's Twelve Peers in the old romances, who, like the Arthurian knights of the Round Table, originally were so called because all were equal. Sociological sense of "one of the same age group or social set" is from 1944. Peer review attested by 1970. Peer pressure is first recorded 1971.
- peerage (n.)
- mid-15c., "peers collectively," from peer (n.) + -age. Probably on model of Old French parage.
- toff (n.)
- lower-class London slang for "stylish dresser, man of the smart set," 1851, said by OED to be probably an alteration of tuft, formerly an Oxford University term for a nobleman or gentleman-commoner (1755), in reference to the gold ornamental tassel worn on the caps of undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge whose fathers were peers with votes in the House of Lords.