英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cant [cant 词源字典]: cant: English has two separate words cant. The older, ‘oblique angle’ [14], originally meant ‘edge’, and appears to have come via Middle Low German kant or Middle Dutch cant, both meaning ‘edge’ or ‘corner’, from Vulgar Latin *canto, a descendant of Latin cantus ‘iron tyre’. which was probably of Celtic origin (Welsh cant means ‘rim’).

The accusative case of the Vulgar Latin word, *cantōnem, was the source of English canton [16], originally ‘corner, section’, now ‘territorial division’; while its Italian descendant, canto, may be the source of Italian cantina ‘cellar’, from which English got canteen [18]. Cant ‘thieves’ jargon’ or ‘hypocritical talk’ [16] was probably originally a specific application of the Latin verb cantāre ‘sing’ (source also of English chant, canto, cantor, cantata, and canticle).

It is usually assumed that the usage derives from an ironic transference of the singing of church congregations or choirs to the wheedling ‘song’ of beggars and (by association) thieves.
=> canteen, canton; cantata, cantor, chant[cant etymology, cant origin, 英语词源]
carol: carol: [13] English acquired carol from Old French carole, and the similarity of form and meaning naturally suggests that this in turn came from late Latin choraula ‘choral song’. In classical Latin times this had meant ‘person who accompanies a choir on a flute or reed instrument’, and it came from Greek khoraúlēs, a compound formed from khorós ‘choir’ (source of English chorus and choir) and aulos ‘reed instrument’.

However, the fact that the earliest recorded use of the word is for a dance in a ring, accompanied by singing, has led some etymologists to speculate that the underlying notion contained in it may be not ‘song’ but ‘circle’ (perhaps from Latin corolla ‘little crown, garland’).
=> choir, chorus
chant: chant: [14] The Latin verb for ‘sing’ was canere (possibly related to English hen). A form derived from it to denote repeated action was cantāre ‘keep on singing’, a rich source of English words. From its French descendant chanter we have chant and the derived chantry [14]; from Italian, cantata [18], originally a past participle; and from the Latin noun cantus ‘song’ the derivatives accent, descant, and canticle [13], as well as (via Italian) canto [16]. Cant ‘hypocritical talk’ is probably from the same source, and shanty or chanty ‘sailor’s song’ is also related.
=> accent, cant, cantata, canto, chanty, descant, hen, incantation, recant
choreography: choreography: [18] Choreography ‘arrangement of dances’ comes from French choréographie, which was based on Greek khoreíā ‘dance’, a derivative of khorós. (Source of English chorus, choir, and possibly also carol, this originally encompassed dancing as well as singing.) Khoreíā passed into Latin as chorea, applied in English to various muscular disorders (such as Huntington’s chorea); the usage probably originated in the Latin phrase chorea sancti Viti ‘St Vitus’s dance’.
=> carol, choir, chorea, chorus
dirge: dirge: [16] Dirge is an anglicization of Latin dīrige, the imperative singular of dīrigere ‘guide’ (source of English direct). It is the first word in the Latin version of Psalm 5, verse 8: Dirige, Domīne, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam ‘Direct, O Lord, my God, my way in thy sight’ (the Authorized Version expands this to ‘Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of my enemies; make thy way straight before thy face’). This formed an antiphon in the Office of the Dead (the funeral service) and hence came to be associated with songs of mourning, and with gloomy singing in general.
=> direct
hen: hen: [OE] Etymologically, a hen is a ‘singing bird’. The word goes back ultimately to a prehistoric Germanic *khanon ‘male fowl, cock’, which was related to the Latin verb canere ‘sing’ (source of English chant). In the West Germanic dialects a feminine form developed, *khannjō, which has become German henne, Dutch hen, Swedish höna, Danish høne, and English hen. (The original masculine form survives in German hahn, Dutch haan, and Swedish and Danish hane, but English has given it up – the Old English word was hana, and if it had survived to the present day it would probably be *hane.) The metaphorical extension of the term to any female bird took place in the 14th century.
=> chant
limerick: limerick: [19] The best-known writer of limericks is of course Edward Lear, but ironically the term limerick was not born until after Lear was dead. It is first recorded in 1896, and is said to have come from a Victorian custom of singing nonsense songs at parties, in the limerick rhymescheme (aabba), which always ended with the line ‘Will you come up to Limerick?’ (Limerick of course being a county and town in Ireland).
lull: lull: [14] There are several words similar to lull in various Germanic languages, including Swedish lulla ‘lull’ and Dutch lullen ‘prattle’, but it is not clear to what extent they are interconnected. But either individually or collectively they all no doubt go back ultimately to a repitition of the syllable lu or la, used in singing a baby to sleep. Lullaby was coined from lull in the 16th century, perhaps using the final syllable of goodbye.
melody: melody: [13] Greek mélos originally meant ‘limb’ (it is related to Cornish mal ‘joint’), but it was transferred metaphorically to a ‘limb or ‘part’ of a piece of music’, a ‘musical phrase’, and from there to ‘song’. It was combined with the element ōid- ‘singing’ (source of English ode) to form melōidíā ‘choral song’, which passed into English via late Latin melōdia and Old French melodie. The compound melodrama [19] is of French origin.
=> melodrama, ode
orgy: orgy: [16] Orgy comes ultimately from Greek órgia (like English organ, a descendant of the Indo-European base *worg- ‘work’), which denoted ‘religious revels involving dancing, singing, getting drunk, and having sex’. It was a plural noun, and passed into English via Latin orgia and French orgies as orgies. This was very much a historical term, denoting the goings-on in ancient Greece, but in the 18th century it was singularized to orgy, and used for any ‘copulatory revelry’.
=> organ, work
quaver: quaver: [15] Quaver was derived from an earlier and now obsolete Middle English quave ‘tremble’. This was of Germanic origin (Low German has the related quabbeln ‘tremble’), and probably started life as a vocal realization of the action of trembling. The use of the noun quaver for a short musical note (first recorded in the 16th century) comes from the original singing of such notes with a trill.
recite: recite: [15] Recite came, probably via Old French reciter, from Latin recitāre ‘read out’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and citāre ‘call, summon’ (source also of English cite, excite, incite, etc). Recitative ‘speech-like singing’ [17] was borrowed from Italian recitativo.
=> cite, excite, incite
siren: siren: [14] The Seirēnes were sea nymphs who, according to Greek mythology, sat on rocks luring impressionable sailors to their doom with the sweetness of their singing. Latin took the word over as sīrēna, and it passed into English via Old French sereine. The term was applied to an acoustical instrument invented in 1819 by Cagniard de la Tour, that produced musical sounds and was used for measuring the frequency of sound waves, and it was this that formed the basis of its later use (in the 1870s) for a device for giving loud warning signals.
accent (n.): late 14c., "particular mode of pronunciation," from Middle French accent, from Old French acent (13c.), from Latin accentus "song added to speech," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + cantus "a singing," past participle of canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)). Loan-translation of Greek prosoidia, from pros- "to" + oide "song," which apparently described the pitch scheme in Greek verse. The decorating sense of "something that emphasizes or highlights" is from 1972.
augur (n.): 1540s, from Latin augur, a religious official in ancient Rome who foretold events by interpreting omens, perhaps originally meaning "an increase in crops enacted in ritual," in which case it probably is from Old Latin *augos (genitive *augeris) "increase," and is related to augere "increase" (see augment). The more popular theory is that it is from Latin avis "bird," because the flights, singing, and feeding of birds, along with entrails from bird sacrifices, were important objects of divination (compare auspicious). In that case, the second element would be from garrire "to talk."
blue (2): "lewd, indecent" recorded from 1840 (in form blueness, in an essay of Carlyle's); the sense connection is unclear, and is opposite to that in blue laws (q.v.). John Mactaggart's "Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia" (1824) containing odd words he had learned while growing up in Galloway and elsewhere in Scotland, has an entry for Thread o'Blue, "any little smutty touch in song-singing, chatting, or piece of writing." Farmer ["Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present," 1890] offers the theory that this meaning derives from the blue dress uniforms issued to harlots in houses of correction, but he writes that the earlier slang authority John Camden Hotten "suggests it as coming from the French Bibliothèque Bleu, a series of books of very questionable character," and adds, from Hotten, that, "Books or conversation of an entirely opposite nature are said to be Brown or Quakerish, i.e., serious, grave, decent."
cantaloupe (n.): also cantaloup, 1739, from French, from Italian, from Cantalupo, name of a former Papal summer estate near Rome, where the melons first were grown in Europe after their introduction (supposedly from Armenia). The place name seems to be "singing wolf" and might refer to a spot where wolves gathered, but this might be folk etymology.
canzone (n.): 1580s, from Italian canzone, from Latin cantionem (nominative cantio) "singing, song" (also source of Spanish cancion, French chanson), noun of action from past participle stem of canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)). In Italian or Provençal, a song resembling the madrigal but less strict in style.
chant (n.): 1670s, from chant (v.), or else from French chant (12c.), from Latin cantus "song, a singing; bird-song," from past participle stem of canere.
chorus (n.): 1560s, from Latin chorus "a dance in a circle, the persons singing and dancing, the chorus of a tragedy," from Greek khoros "band of dancers or singers, dance, dancing ground," perhaps from PIE *gher- "to grasp, enclose," if the original sense of the Greek word is "enclosed dancing floor." Extension from dance to voice is because Attic drama arose from tales inserted in the intervals of the dance. In Attic tragedy, the khoros (of 12 or 15 (tragic) or 24 (comedic) persons) gave expression, between the acts, to the moral and religious sentiments evoked by the actions of the play.
When a Poet wished to bring out a piece, he asked a Chorus from the Archon, and the expenses, being great, were defrayed by some rich citizen (the khoregos): it was furnished by the Tribe and trained originally by the Poet himself" [Liddell & Scott]
Originally in English used in theatrical sense; meaning of "a choir" first attested 1650s. Meaning "the refrain of a song" (which the audience joins in singing) is 1590s. As a verb, 1703, from the noun. Chorus girl is 1894.
concent (n.): "harmony," 1580s, from Latin concentus "a singing together, harmony," from concinere "to sing or sound together," from com- "with, together" (see com-) + canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)). Often misspelled consent or confused with that word.
hi-de-hi: call-and-response exclamation in singing, by 1933, associated with U.S. bandleader Cabell "Cab" Calloway (1907-1994) and especially his signature song "Minnie the Moocher," which dates from 1931.
Calloway recalled in his autobiography that the song came first and the chorus was later improvised when he forgot the lyrics during a radio broadcast. ["Harlem Renaissance Lives," Oxford, 2009]
holler (v.): 1690s, American English, variant of hollo (1540s) "to shout," especially "to call to the hounds in hunting," related to hello. Compare colloquial yeller for yellow, etc. As a style of singing (originally Southern U.S.), first recorded 1936. Related: Hollered; hollering. As a noun, from 1896, earlier hollar (1825).
lied (n.): "German romantic song," 1852, from German Lied, literally "song," from Middle High German liet, from Old High German liod, from Proto-Germanic *leuthan (see laud). Hence Liederkranz, in reference to German singing societies, literally "garland of songs."
London: chief city and capital of England, Latin Londinium (c.115), often explained as "place belonging to a man named Londinos," a supposed Celtic personal name meaning "the wild one," "but this etymology is rejected in an emphatic footnote in Jackson 1953 (p.308), and we have as yet nothing to put in its place" [Margaret Gelling, "Signposts to the Past: Place-Names and the History of England," Chichester, 1978]. London Bridge the children's singing game is attested from 1827. London broil "large flank steak broiled then cut in thin slices" attested by 1939, American English; London fog first attested 1830.
lyric (n.): "a lyric poem," 1580s, from Middle French lyrique "short poem expressing personal emotion," from Latin lyricus "of or for the lyre," from Greek lyrikos "singing to the lyre," from lyra (see lyre). Meaning "words of a popular song" is first recorded 1876. Related: lyrics.
melody (n.): late 13c., from Old French melodie "music, song, tune" (12c.), from Late Latin melodia, from Greek meloidia "a singing, a chanting, choral song, a tune for lyric poetry," from melos "song, part of song" (see melisma) + oide "song, ode" (see ode).
mime (v.): 1610s, "to act without words," from mime (n.). The transferred sense of "to imitate" is from 1733 (Greek mimeisthai meant "to imitate"). Meaning "to pretend to be singing a pre-recorded song" is from 1965. Related: mimed; miming.
modulation (n.): late 14c., "act of singing or making music," from Old French modulation "act of making music" (14c.), or directly from Latin modulationem (nominative modulatio) "rhythmical measure, singing and playing, melody," noun of action from past participle stem of modulari "regulate, measure off properly, measure rhythmically; play, play upon," from modulus (see module). Meaning "act of regulating according to measure or proportion" is from 1530s. Musical sense of "action of process of changing key" is first recorded 1690s.
mulberry (n.): late 14c., developed from 13c. morberie, or cognate Middle High German mul-beri (alteration by dissimilation of Old High German mur-beri, Modern German Maulbeere); both from Latin morum "mulberry, blackberry," + Old English berie, Old High German beri "berry." The Latin word probably is from Greek moron "mulberry," from PIE *moro- "blackberry, mulberry" (cognates: Armenian mor "blackberry," Middle Irish merenn, Welsh merwydden "mulberry"). Children's singing game with a chorus beginning "Here we go round the mulberry bush" is attested from 1820s, first in Scotland.
ode (n.): 1580s, from Middle French ode (c. 1500), from Late Latin ode "lyric song," from Greek oide, Attic contraction of aoide "song, ode;" related to aeidein (Attic aidein) "to sing;" aoidos (Attic oidos) "a singer, singing;" aude "voice, tone, sound," probably from a PIE *e-weid-, perhaps from root *wed- "to speak." In classical use, "a poem intended to be sung;" in modern use usually a rhymed lyric, often an address, usually dignified, rarely extending to 150 lines. Related: Odic.
orgy (n.): 1560s, orgies (plural) "secret rites in the worship of certain Greek and Roman gods," especially Dionysus, from Middle French orgies (c. 1500, from Latin orgia), and directly from Greek orgia (plural) "secret rites," especially those of Bacchus, from PIE root *werg- "to do" (see organ). The singular, orgy, was first used in English 1660s for the extended sense of "any licentious revelry." OED says of the ancient rites that they were "celebrated with extravagant dancing, singing, drinking, etc.," which gives "etc." quite a workout.
precent (v.): "to lead others in singing," 1732, from Latin praecantare "to sing before," or a back-formation from precentor.
precentor (n.): 1610s, from Late Latin praecentor "a leader in singing," from Latin praecantare "to sing before," from prae "before" (see pre-) + canere "to sing" (see chant (v.)). For change of vowel, see biennial.
prosody (n.): late 15c., from Latin prosodia "accent of a syllable," from Greek prosoidia "song sung to music," also "accent, modulation," literally "a singing in addition to," from pros "to, forward, near" + oide "song, poem" (see ode). Related: Prosodiacal; prosodist.
raunch (n.): 1963 (in "Billboard," describing lead guitar on surf music tracks), back-formation from raunchy. There was a singing group in U.S. c. 1960 called the Raunch Hands.
recitative (n.): "style of musical declamation intermediate between speech and singing, form of song resembling declamation," 1650s, from Italian recitativo, from recitato, past participle of recitare, from Latin recitare "read out, read aloud" (see recite). From 1640s as an adjective. The Italian form of the word was used in English from 1610s.
refrain (n.): late 14c., from Old French refrain "chorus" (13c.), alteration of refrait, noun use of past participle of refraindre "repeat," also "break off," from Vulgar Latin *refrangere "break off," alteration of Latin refringere "break up, break open" (see refraction) by influence of frangere "to break." Influenced in French by cognate Provençal refranhar "singing of birds, refrain." The notion is of something that causes a song to "break off" then resume. OED says not common before 19c.
sing (n.): "act of singing," especially collective, 1850, from sing (v.).
singspiel (n.): 1876, from German Singspiel, literally "a singing play," from singen "to sing" (see sing (v.)) + Spiel "a play" (see spiel). Kind of performance popular in Germany late 18c.
siren (n.): mid-14c., "sea nymph who by her singing lures sailors to their destruction," from Old French sereine (12c., Modern French sirène) and directly from Latin Siren (Late Latin Sirena), from Greek Seiren ["Odyssey," xii.39 ff.], one of the Seirenes, mythical sisters who enticed sailors to their deaths with their songs, also in Greek "a deceitful woman," perhaps literally "binder, entangler," from seira "cord, rope."

Meaning "device that makes a warning sound" (on an ambulance, etc.) first recorded 1879, in reference to steamboats, perhaps from similar use of the French word. Figurative sense of "one who sings sweetly and charms" is recorded from 1580s. The classical descriptions of them were mangled in medieval translations and glosses, resulting in odd notions of what they looked like.
song (n.): Old English sang "voice, song, art of singing; metrical composition adapted for singing, psalm, poem," from Proto-Germanic *sangwaz (cognates: Old Norse söngr, Norwegian song, Swedish sång, Old Saxon, Danish, Old Frisian, Old High German, German sang, Middle Dutch sanc, Dutch zang, Gothic saggws), from PIE *songwh-o- "singing, song," from *sengwh- "to sing, make an incantation" (see sing (v.)).

Phrase for a song "for a trifle, for little or nothing" is from "All's Well" III.ii.9 (the identical image, por du son, is in Old French. With a song in (one's) heart "feeling joy" is first attested 1930 in Lorenz Hart's lyric. Song and dance as a form of vaudeville act is attested from 1872; figurative sense of "rigmarole" is from 1895.
songcraft (n.): Old English sangcræft "art of singing, composing poetry, or playing an instrument," from song (n.) + craft (n.). Modern use (1855) is a re-formation.
songster (n.): Old English sangystre "female singer;" see song (n.) + -ster. Also of men skilled in singing by mid-14c. Separate fem. form songstress is attested from 1703.
soprano (n.): 1738, "the highest singing voice," ranging easily through the two octaves above middle C, from Italian soprano "the treble in music," literally "high," from sopra "above," from Latin supra, fem. ablative singular of super (see super-). Meaning "a singer having a soprano voice" is from 1738. As an adjective from 1730. Soprano saxophone is attested from 1859.
swan (n.): Old English swan "swan," from Proto-Germanic *swanaz "singer" (cognates: Old Saxon swan, Old Norse svanr, Danish svane, Swedish svan, Middle Dutch swane, Dutch zwaan, Old High German swan, German Schwan), probably literally "the singing bird," from PIE root *swen- "to sing, make sound" (see sound (n.1)); thus related to Old English geswin "melody, song" and swinsian "to make melody."

In classical mythology, sacred to Apollo and to Venus. The singing of swans before death was alluded to by Chaucer (late 14c.), but swan-song (1831) is a translation of German Schwanengesang. The ancient Indo-European mythical swan-maiden so called by mythographers from 1829. Swan dive is recorded from 1898. A black swan was proverbial for "something extremely rare or non-existent" (late 14c.), after Juvenal ["Sat." vi. 164], but later they turned up in Australia (Chenopsis atratus).
"Do you say no worthy wife is to be found among all these crowds?" Well, let her be handsome, charming, rich and fertile; let her have ancient ancestors ranged about her halls; let her be more chaste than all the dishevelled Sabine maidens who stopped the war--a prodigy as rare upon the earth as a black swan! yet who could endure a wife that possessed all perfections? I would rather have a Venusian wench for my wife than you, O Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, if, with all your virtues, you bring me a haughty brow, and reckon up Triumphs as part of your marriage portion. [Juvenal]
Sweet Adeline: female barbershop singing group member, 1947, from the name of a popular close harmony song by Richard Armstrong & Harry Gerard, "You're the Flower of my Heart, Sweet Adeline" (1903).
trill (n.): 1640s, from Italian trillio, triglio "a quavering or warbling in singing," probably ultimately of imitative origin. The verb is 1660s, from Italian trillare "to quaver, trill." Related: Trilled; trilling.
wren (n.): small, migratory singing bird, Old English wrenna, metathesis variation of earlier werna, a Germanic word of uncertain origin. Compare Icelandic rindill, Old High German wrendo, wrendilo "wren." The bird's name in other languages usually denotes "royalty" (such as Latin regulus), in reference to its golden crest.
countertenor: "The highest male adult singing voice (sometimes distinguished from the male alto voice by its strong, pure tone)", Late Middle English: from French contre-teneur, from obsolete Italian contratenore, based on Latin tenor (see tenor¹).