英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

climate [climate 词源字典]: climate: [14] The notion underlying climate is of ‘sloping’ or ‘leaning’. It comes, via Old French climat or late Latin clīma (whence English clime [16]), from Greek klīma ‘sloping surface of the earth’, which came ultimately from the same source (the Indo-European base *kli-) as produced English lean. Greek geographers assigned the earth’s surface to various zones according to the angle which their ‘slope’ made with the rays of the sun (originally there were seven of these, ranging from 17 degrees of latitude North to 48 degrees, but later the system was elaborated so that each hemisphere was divided into 24 bands or ‘climates’ of latitude).

This was the sense in which the word passed into Latin, where it broadened out into simply ‘region’, and hence ‘weather associated with a particular area’.
=> ladder, lean[climate etymology, climate origin, 英语词源]
lean: lean: [OE] Lean ‘thin’ and lean ‘incline’ are of course of completely different origin. The adjective goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *khlainjaz. The verb can be traced to an Indo- European base *kli- ‘lean, slope’, which has given English a wealth of vocabulary. Via Greek intermediaries have come climate, climax, and clinic, while its Latin descendant clīnāre has produced decline, incline, and recline.

The prehistoric Germanic verb formed from it was *khlinōjan, which has diversified into modern German lehnen, Dutch leunen, and English lean. From the same Germanic base come ladder, and also perhaps links ‘golf course’ [OE], which originally meant ‘sloping or rising ground’.
=> climate, climax, clinic, decline, incline, ladder, links, recline
penthouse: penthouse: [14] Penthouse has no etymological connection with house. It comes from Anglo- Norman *pentis, an abbreviated version of Old French apentis. This in turn went back to Latin appendicium ‘additional attached part’, a derivative of appendēre ‘attach’ (source of English append [15] and appendix [16]), which was a compound verb formed from the prefix ad- ‘to’ and pendēre ‘hang’ (source of English pending, pendulum, etc).

It arrived in English as pentis, and was used for a sort of ‘lean-to with a sloping roof’. A perceived semantic connection with houses led by the late 14th century to its reformulation as penthouse, but its application to a ‘(luxurious) flat on top of a tall block’ did not emerge until the 20th century.
=> append, pendulum
squint: squint: [14] Squint is short for the now nearly defunct asquint [13], which may have been based on the ancestor of Dutch schuinte ‘slope, slant’, a derivative of schuin ‘sideways, sloping’. The origins of this are not known.
attic (n.): "top story under the roof of a house," 1855, shortened from attic storey (1724). The term Attic order in classical architecture meant a small, square decorative column of the type often used in a low story above a building's main facade, a feature associated with the region around Athens (see Attic). The word then was applied by architects to "a low decorative facade above the main story of a building" (1690s in English) to convey a classical heritage where none exists, and it came to mean the space enclosed by such a structure. The modern use is via French attique. "An attic is upright, a garret is in a sloping roof" [Weekley].
awning (n.): 1624, origin uncertain (first recorded use is by Capt. John Smith), perhaps from Middle French auvans, plural of auvent "a sloping roof," "itself of doubtful etym[ology]" (OED). A nautical term only until sense of "cover for windows or porch" emerged 1852.
bezel (n.): 1610s, "sloping edge," also "groove in which a stone is set," from Old French *besel (13c.; Modern French biseau), cognate with Spanish bisel; of uncertain origin, perhaps literally "a stone with two angles," from Vulgar Latin *bis-alus, from bis- "twice" (see bis-) + ala "wing, side" (see alar). Meaning "oblique face of a gem" is from c. 1840. The verb meaning "grind (a tool) down to an edge" is from 1670s.
declivity (n.): 1610s, from French déclivité, from Latin declivitatem (nominative declivitas) "a slope, declivity," from declivis "a sloping downward," from de- "down" (see de-) + clivus "a slope," from PIE *klei-wo-, suffixed form of *klei "to lean" (see lean (v.)).
esplanade (n.): "open space, level or sloping, especially in front of a fortification," 1590s, from French esplanade (15c.), from Spanish esplanada "large level area," noun use of fem. past participle of esplanar "make level," from Latin explanare "to level" (see explain). Or perhaps the French word is from or influenced by Italian spianata, from spianare.
fall (v.): Old English feallan (class VII strong verb; past tense feoll, past participle feallen) "to drop from a height; fail, decay, die," from Proto-Germanic *fallan (cognates: Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fallan, Dutch vallen, Old Norse falla, Old High German fallan, German fallen, absent in Gothic).

These are from PIE root *pol- "to fall" (cognates: Armenian p'ul "downfall," Lithuanian puola "to fall," Old Prussian aupallai "finds," literally "falls upon").

Meaning "come suddenly to the ground" is from late Old English. Of darkness, night, from c. 1600; of land sloping from 1570s; of prices from 1570s. Of empires, governments, etc., from c. 1200. Of the face or countenance from late 14c. Meaning "to be reduced" (as temperature) is from 1650s. Meaning "die in battle" is from 1570s. Meaning "to pass casually (into some condition)" is from early 13c.

To fall in "take place or position" is from 1751. To fall in love is attested from 1520s; to fall asleep is late 14c. To fall down is early 13c. (a-dun follon); to fall behind is from 1856. Fall through "fail, come to nothing" is from 1781. To fall for something is from 1903.

To fall out is by mid-13c. in a literal sense; military use is from 1832. Meaning "have a disagreement, begin to quarrel" is attested from 1560s (to fall out with "quarrel with" is from late 15c.).
garret (n.): c. 1300, garite, "turret, small tower on the roof of a house or castle," from Old French garite "watchtower, place of refuge, shelter, lookout," from garir "defend, preserve," which is from a Germanic source (compare Old English warian "to hold, defend," Gothic warjan "forbid," Old High German warjan "to defend"), from Proto-Germanic *warjan, from PIE root *wer- (5) "to cover" (see warrant (n.)). Meaning "room on uppermost floor of a house," especially a room with a sloping roof, is from early 14c. See attic. As the typical wretched abode of a poor poet, by mid-18c.
glacis (n.): "sloping bank" (especially leading up to a fortification), 1670s, from French glacir "to freeze, make slippery," from Old French glacier "to slip, glide," from Vulgar Latin *glaciare "to make or turn into ice," from Latin glacies "ice" (see glacial).
italic: 1610s (adj.), 1670s (n.) "italic type," from Latin italicus "Italian" (see Italian); so called because it was introduced in 1501 by Aldus Manutius, printer of Venice (who also gave his name to Aldine), and first used in an edition of Virgil dedicated to Italy. Earlier (1570s) the word was used for the plain, sloping style of handwriting, as opposed to Gothic. Related: Italics.
penthouse (n.): pendize, early 14c., from Anglo-French pentiz, a shortening of Old French apentis "attached building, appendage," from Medieval Latin appendicium, from Latin appendere "to hang" (see append). Modern spelling is from c. 1530, by folk etymology influence of Middle French pente "slope," and English house (the meaning at that time was "attached building with a sloping roof or awning"). Originally a simple structure (Middle English homilies describe Jesus' birthplace in the manger as a "penthouse"); meaning "apartment or small house built on the roof of a skyscraper" first recorded 1921, from which time dates its association with luxury.
pinball (n.): also pin-ball, game played on a sloping surface, 1911, from pin (n.) + ball (n.1). Earlier it meant "a pincushion" (1803).
proclivity (n.): 1590s, from Middle French proclivité or directly from Latin proclivitatem (nominative proclivitas) "a tendency, predisposition, propensity," from proclivis "prone to," literally "sloping, inclined," from pro- "forward" (see pro-) + clivus "a slope," from PIE *klei-wo-, suffixed form of *klei "to lean" (see lean (v.)).
rafter (n.): "sloping timber of a roof," Old English ræftras (West Saxon), reftras (Mercian), both plural, related to Old Norse raptr "log," from Proto-Germanic *raf-tra-, from PIE *rap-tro-, from root *rep- "stake, beam."
runway (n.): "customary track of an animal," especially a deer, 1833, American English, from run (v.) + way (n.). Meaning "artificial sloping track" is attested from 1883; airfield sense is from 1923.
shad (n.): Old English sceadd "shad," important food fish in the Atlantic, possibly from Scandinavian (Norwegian dialectal skadd "small whitefish"); but compare Welsh ysgadan (plural), Irish and Gaelic sgadan "herring." OED says Low German schade may be from English.

Its importance suggested by its use in forming the common names of U.S. East Coast plants and wildlife whose active period coincides with the running of the shad up rivers, such as shad-bird, shad-bush, shad-flower, shad-fly, shad-frog. From the shape of the fish comes shad-bellied, 1832 in reference to persons, "having little abdominal protuberance;" of coats (1842) "sloping apart in front, cut away," especially in reference to the characteristic garb of male Quakers.
slalom (n.): 1921, from Norwegian slalam "skiing race," literally "sloping track," from sla "slope" + lam "track" (related to Norwegian laan "a row of houses;" compare lane).
slant (v.): 1520s, "to strike obliquely" (against something), alteration of slenten "slip sideways" (c. 1300), perhaps via a Scandinavian source (compare Swedish slinta "to slip," Norwegian slenta "to fall on one side"), from Proto-Germanic *slintanan. Intransitive sense of "to slope, to lie obliquely" is first recorded 1690s; transitive sense of "to give a sloping direction to" is from 1805. Related: Slanted; slanting. As an adverb from late 15c.; as an adjective from 1610s. Slant rhyme attested from 1944.
slope (v.): 1590s, "go in an oblique direction," from earlier adjective meaning "slanting" (c. 1500), probably from Middle English aslope (adv.) "on the incline" (late 15c.), from Old English *aslopen, past participle of aslupan "to slip away," from a- "away" + slupan "to slip" (see sleeve). From 1709 as "to be in a slanting position;" transitive sense "place in a slanting position" is from c. 1600. Related: Sloped; sloping.
sublime (adj.): 1580s, "expressing lofty ideas in an elevated manner," from Middle French sublime (15c.), or directly from Latin sublimis "uplifted, high, borne aloft, lofty, exalted, eminent, distinguished," possibly originally "sloping up to the lintel," from sub "up to" + limen "lintel, threshold, sill" (see limit (n.)). The sublime (n.) "the sublime part of anything, that which is stately or imposing" is from 1670s. For Sublime Porte, former title of the Ottoman government, see Porte.
synclinal (adj.): "sloping downward on both sides," 1833 (in Lyell), from -al (1) + Latinized form of stem of Greek synklinein "to incline, lean," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + klinein "to slope" (see lean (v.)).
talus (n.2): "slope," 1640s, from French talus (16c.), from Old French talu "slope, mound, small hill" (12c.), probably from Gallo-Roman *talutum, from Latin talutium "a slope or outcrop of rock debris," perhaps of Celtic origin (compare Welsh, Breton tal "forehead, brow").

OED, however, suggests derivation from root of talus (n.1) in the sense of "heel" which developed in its Romanic descendants. Mainly used of military earthwork at first; meaning "sloping mass of rocky fragments that has fallen from a cliff" is first recorded 1830.
virgule (n.): thin sloping line similar to a modern backslash, used as a comma in medieval MSS and still in modern text to indicate line breaks in poetry, 1837, from French virgule (16c.), from Latin virgula "punctuation mark," literally "little twig," diminutive of virga "shoot, rod, stick." The word had been borrowed in its Latin form in 1728.
acclivous: "Rising with a slope; sloping (especially steeply) upward, ascending", Mid 18th cent.; earliest use found in Nathan Bailey (d. 1742), lexicographer and schoolmaster. From classical Latin acclīvus acclive + -ous. Compare earlier acclive, acclivity.
aslope: "In a sloping position", Late Middle English: origin uncertain; this form appears earlier than slope.