英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

colossus (n.)[colossus 词源字典]: "gigantic statue," late 14c., from Latin colossus "a statue larger than life," from Greek kolossos "gigantic statue," which is of unknown origin, used by Herodotus of giant Egyptian statues, and used by Romans of the bronze Helios at the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes. Figurative sense of "any thing of awesome greatness or vastness" is from 1794.[colossus etymology, colossus origin, 英语词源]
enormity (n.): late 15c., "transgression, crime; irregularity," from Old French enormité "extravagance, atrocity, heinous sin," from Latin enormitatem (nominative enormitas) "hugeness, vastness; irregularity," from enormis "irregular, huge" (see enormous). Meaning "extreme wickedness" in English attested from 1560s. The notion is of that which surpasses the endurable limits of order, right, decency. Sense of "hugeness" (1765 in English) is etymological but to prevent misunderstanding probably best avoided in favor of enormousness, though this, too, originally meant "immeasurable wickedness" (1718) and didn't start to mean "hugeness" until c. 1800.
vast (adj.): 1570s, "being of great extent or size," from Middle French vaste, from Latin vastus "immense, extensive, huge," also "desolate, unoccupied, empty." The two meanings probably originally attached to two separate words, one with a long -a- one with a short -a-, that merged in early Latin (see waste (v.)). Meaning "very great in quantity or number" is from 1630s; that of "very great in degree" is from 1670s. Very popular early 18c. as an intensifier. Related: Vastly; vastness; vasty.