quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- creosote[creosote 词源字典]
- creosote: [19] The term creosote was coined as German kreosot in the early 1830s. Of creosote’s various properties, the one perhaps most valued in the early days after its discovery was that of being antiseptic. Hence the name kreosot, which was intended to mean ‘flesh-preserver’. The first element, kreo-, is a derivative of Greek kréas ‘flesh’; this also produced English pancreas, and is a descendant of an Indo-European base which was also the source of English crude, cruel, and raw. The second comes from Greek sōtér ‘saviour, preserver’, a derivative of Greek sōs.
=> crude, cruel, pancreas, raw[creosote etymology, creosote origin, 英语词源] - guinea
- guinea: [17] Guinea first emerged as the name of a section of the West Africa continent in the late 16th century (its origins are not known, but presumably it was based on an African word). In 1663 the Royal Mint began to produce a gold coin valued at 20 shillings ‘for the use of the Company of Royal Adventurers of England trading with Africa’. It had the figure of an elephant on it.
Straightaway it became known as a guinea, both because its use was connected with the Guinea coast and because it was made from gold obtained there. And what is more, the coins soon came to be much in demand for domestic use: on 29 October 1666 Samuel Pepys recorded ‘And so to my goldsmith to bid him look out for some gold for me; and he tells me that Ginnys, which I bought 2000 of not long ago, and cost me but 18½d. change, will now cost me 22d., and but very few to be had at any price.
However, some more I will have, for they are very convenient – and of easy disposal’. Its value fluctuated, and was not fixed at 21 shillings until 1717. The last one was minted in 1813, but guinea as a term for the amount 21 shillings stayed in use until the early 1970s, when the decimalization of British currency dealt it the deathblow. The guinea pig [17], incidentally, comes from South America, and its name probably arose from a confusion between Guinea and Guiana, on the northern coast of South America.
- salary
- salary: [14] Salary goes back to a Latin word that originally denoted an ‘allowance given to Roman soldiers for buying salt’ (salt being in former times a valued commodity, over which wars were fought, rather than taken for granted as it is today). This was salārium, a derivative of sāl ‘salt’. It soon broadened out to mean ‘fixed periodic payment for work done’, and passed in this sense via Anglo-Norman salarie into English.
=> salt - charity (n.)
- mid-12c., "benevolence for the poor," from Old French charité "(Christian) charity, mercy, compassion; alms; charitable foundation" (12c., Old North French carité), from Latin caritatem (nominative caritas) "costliness, esteem, affection" (in Vulgate often used as translation of Greek agape "love" -- especially Christian love of fellow man -- perhaps to avoid the sexual suggestion of Latin amor), from carus "dear, valued," from PIE *karo-, from root *ka- "to like, desire" (see whore (n.)).
Vulgate also sometimes translated agape by Latin dilectio, noun of action from diligere "to esteem highly, to love" (see diligence).
Wyclif and the Rhemish version regularly rendered the Vulgate dilectio by 'love,' caritas by 'charity.' But the 16th c. Eng. versions from Tindale to 1611, while rendering agape sometimes 'love,' sometimes 'charity,' did not follow the dilectio and caritas of the Vulgate, but used 'love' more often (about 86 times), confining 'charity' to 26 passages in the Pauline and certain of the Catholic Epistles (not in I John), and the Apocalypse .... In the Revised Version 1881, 'love' has been substituted in all these instances, so that it now stands as the uniform rendering of agape. [OED]
Sense of "charitable foundation or institution" in English attested by 1690s. - devalue (v.)
- 1918, a back-formation from devaluation. Related: Devalued; devaluing.
- esteemed (adj.)
- "held in high regard, respected, valued," 1540s, past participle adjective from esteem (v.).
- ginseng (n.)
- type of plant whose root is highly valued as a tonic and stimulant in Chinese herbology, 1650s, from Chinese jen-shen. First element means "man," but the meaning of the second is obscure.
- lief (adj.)
- Old English leof "dear, valued, beloved, pleasant;" also as a noun, "a beloved person, friend," from Proto-Germanic *leubo- (cognates: Old Norse ljutr, Old Frisian liaf, Dutch lief, Old High German liob, German lieb, Gothic liufs "dear, beloved"), from PIE root *leubh- "love" (see love (n.)). As an adverb, "dearly, willingly" from c. 1250. I want and I'd love to are overworked and misused to fill the hole left in the language when I would lief faded in 17c.
- revalue (v.)
- 1590s, from re- + value (v.). Related: Revalued; revaluing.
- riches (n.)
- "valued possessions, money, property," c. 1200, modified from richesse (12c.), a singular form misunderstood as a plural, from Old French richesse, richece "wealth, opulence, splendor, magnificence," from riche (see rich (adj.)). The Old French suffix -esse is from Latin -itia, added to adjectives to form nouns of quality (compare fortress).
- shinplaster (n.)
- also shin-plaster, piece of paper soaked in vinegar and used to treat sore legs, from shin (n.) + plaster (n.). In U.S. history, jocularly or as a term of abuse for "devalued low-denomination paper currency" (1824).
- Stradivarius (n.)
- valued type of violin, 1818, from Latinized form of name of Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), violin-maker of Cremona, or his sons or pupils. Short form Strad is attested from 1884.
- treasure (n.)
- mid-12c., tresor, from Old French tresor "treasury, hoard, treasure" (11c., Modern French trésor), from Gallo-Roman *tresaurus, from Latin thesaurus "treasury, treasure" (source also of Spanish, Italian tesoro), from Greek thesauros "store, treasure, treasure house" (see thesaurus). In Middle English also thresur, etc.; modern spelling is from 16c. Replaced Old English goldhord. General sense of "anything valued" is recorded from c. 1200. Treasure hunt is first recorded 1913. For treasure trove, see trove.
- undervalue (v.)
- 1590s, "to rate as inferior in value" (to), from under + value (v.). Sense of "to estimate or esteem too low" is recorded from 1610s. Meaning "to rate at too low a monetary value" is attested from 1620s. Related: Undervalued; undervaluing.
- value (v.)
- mid-15c., "estimate the value of," also "think highly of," probably from value (n.). Related: Valued, valuing.
- vervain (n.)
- herbaceous plant much valued medicinally in Middle Ages, late 14c., from Old French verveine (13c.), from Latin verbena (see verbena).
- weed (n.)
- "plant not valued for use or beauty," Old English weod, uueod "grass, herb, weed," from Proto-Germanic *weud- (cognates: Old Saxon wiod, East Frisian wiud), of unknown origin. Also applied to trees that grow abundantly. Meaning "tobacco" is from c. 1600; that of "marijuana" is from 1920s. The chemical weed-killer is attested by 1885.
- worth (adj.)
- Old English weorþ "significant, valuable, of value; valued, appreciated, highly thought-of, deserving, meriting; honorable, noble, of high rank; suitable for, proper, fit, capable," from Proto-Germanic *werthaz "toward, opposite," hence "equivalent, worth" (cognates: Old Frisian werth, Old Norse verðr, Dutch waard, Old High German werd, German wert, Gothic wairþs "worth, worthy"), perhaps a derivative of PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). Probably related to weird. Old Church Slavonic vredu, Lithuanian vertas "worth" are Germanic loan-words. From c. 1200 as "equivalent to, of the value of, valued at; having importance equal to; equal in power to."
- gaboon
- "A tropical West African hardwood tree which is valued for its timber", Early 20th century: from Gaboon (now Gabon).
- barracouta
- "A long, slender fish of southern oceans, highly valued as food", Mid 19th century: alteration of barracuda.