英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

decline (v.)[decline 词源字典]: late 14c., "to turn aside, deviate," from Old French decliner "to sink, decline, degenerate, turn aside," from Latin declinare "to lower, avoid, deviate, to bend from, inflect," from de- "from" (see de-) + clinare "to bend," from PIE *klei-n-, suffixed form of *klei- "to lean" (see lean (v.)). Sense has been altered since c. 1400 by interpretation of de- as "downward." Meaning "not to consent, politely refuse," is from 1630s. Related: Declined; declining.[decline etymology, decline origin, 英语词源]
gallant (adj.): mid-15c., "showy, finely dressed; gay, merry," from Old French galant "courteous," earlier "amusing, entertaining; lively, bold" (14c.), present participle of galer "rejoice, make merry," which is of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a Latinized verb formed from Frankish *wala- "good, well," from Proto-Germanic *wal- (source also of Old High German wallon "to wander, go on a pilgrimage"), from PIE root *wel- (2) "to wish, will" (see will (v.)), "but the transition of sense offers difficulties that are not fully cleared up" [OED]. Sense of "politely attentive to women" was adopted early 17c. from French. Attempts to distinguish this sense by accent are an 18c. artifice.
impolite (adj.): 1610s, "unrefined, rough," from Latin impolitus "unpolished, rough, unrefined," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + politus "polished" (see polite). Sense of "discourteous, ill-mannered" is from 1739. Related: Impolitely; impoliteness.
Negro (n.): "member of a black-skinned race of Africa," 1550s, from Spanish or Portuguese negro "black," from Latin nigrum (nominative niger) "black, dark, sable, dusky," figuratively "gloomy, unlucky, bad, wicked," of unknown origin (perhaps from PIE *nekw-t- "night;" see Watkins). As an adjective from 1590s. Use with a capital N- became general early 20c. (e.g. 1930 in "New York Times" stylebook) in reference to U.S. citizens of African descent, but because of its perceived association with white-imposed attitudes and roles the word was ousted late 1960s in this sense by Black (q.v.).
Professor Booker T. Washington, being politely interrogated ... as to whether negroes ought to be called 'negroes' or 'members of the colored race' has replied that it has long been his own practice to write and speak of members of his race as negroes, and when using the term 'negro' as a race designation to employ the capital 'N' ["Harper's Weekly," June 2, 1906]
Meaning "English language as spoken by U.S. blacks" is from 1704. French nègre is a 16c. borrowing from Spanish negro.
neocon (n.): by 1987, abbreviation for neo-conservative in the U.S. political sense.
Neoconservatism is the first variant of American conservatism in the past century that is in the 'American grain.' It is hopeful, not lugubrious; forward-looking, not nostalgic; and its general tone is cheerful, not grim or dyspeptic. Its 20th-century heroes tend to be TR, FDR, and Ronald Reagan. Such Republican and conservative worthies as Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, and Barry Goldwater are politely overlooked. [Irving Kristol, "The Neoconservative Persuasion," in "The Weekly Standard," Aug. 25, 2003]
polite (adj.): late 14c., "polished, burnished" (mid-13c. as a surname), from Latin politus "refined, elegant, accomplished," literally "polished," past participle of polire "to polish, to make smooth" (see polish (v.)). Used literally at first in English; sense of "elegant, cultured" is first recorded c. 1500, that of "behaving courteously" is 1748 (implied in politely). Related: Politeness.
weatherman (n.): "one who observes the weather," 1869, from weather (n.) + man (n.). Weather-prophet is from 1784 as "barometer;" 1827 as "person who predicts the weather."
Clerk of the Weather, I deplore
That all thy greatness is no more,
As should a gentle bard;
That Nature, or that Nature's law
When you politely called for thaw,
Gave frost was rather hard.

[from Consolatory Address to Mr. Murphy, the Weather Prophet," Colburn's New Monthly Magazine, 1838]
xeno-: before vowels, xen-, word-forming element meaning "strange, foreign; stranger, foreigner," from Greek xeno-, comb. form of xenos "a guest, stranger, foreigner, refugee, guest-friend, one entitled to hospitality," cognate with Latin hostis (see guest (n.)). "The term was politely used of any one whose name was unknown" [Liddell & Scott].