英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

as [as 词源字典]: as: [12] Ultimately, as is the same word as also. Old English alswā ‘in just this way’ was used in some contexts in which modern English would use as, and as it was weakly stressed in such contexts it gradually dwindled to als or ase and finally to as.
=> also[as etymology, as origin, 英语词源]
float: float: [OE] Germanic *fleut-, which produced English fleet, had the so-called ‘weak grades’ (that is, variant forms which because they were weakly stressed had different vowels) *flot- and *flut-. The former was the source of Germanic *flotōjan, which passed into late Old English as flotian and eventually ousted flēotan (modern English fleet) from its original meaning ‘float’.

It also seems to have been borrowed into the Romance languages, producing French flotter, Italian fiottare, and Spanish flotar (a diminutive of the Spanish noun derivative flota gave English flotilla [18]). The latter formed the basis of Old Norse flytja, acquired by English as flit [12], and of Old English floterian, which became modern English flutter.
=> fleet, flit, flotilla, flutter
freeze: freeze: [OE] Freeze is an ancient word, which traces its history back to Indo-European *preus- (source also of Latin pruīna ‘hoarfrost’). Its Germanic descendant was *freusan, from which come German frieren, Dutch vriezen, Swedish frysa, and English freeze. The noun frost [OE] was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from a weakly stressed variant of the base of *freusan plus the suffix -t.
=> frost
master: master: [OE] The Latin word for ‘master, chief’ was magister (which is generally assumed to have been based on the root of Latin magis ‘more’ and magnus ‘big’, source of English magnify, magnitude, etc). Its more obvious English descendants include magistrate and magisterial, and indeed English originally acquired magister itself in the 10th century in the form mægister, but over the years (partly under the influence of Old French maistre) this developed to master.

The feminine counterpart mistress [14] was borrowed from Old French maistresse, a form maintained in English for some time. The alteration of mais- to mis- began in the 15th century, due probably to the weakly-stressed use of the word as a title (a phenomenon also responsible for the emergence of mister [16] from master). The abbreviated miss followed in the 17th century.
=> magistrate, magnitude, magnum, miss, mister, mistress
not: not: [14] In Old English and early Middle English the simple particle ne was used for making negative sentences. But it was evidently often felt to be in need of some reinforcement, for purposes of emphasis, and to do this job noht was brought in. Ancestor of modern English nought [OE], it was a compound formed from ne and ōwiht ‘anything’ (precursor of archaic modern English ought).

By the end of the 13th century this was being widely used as the sole negator in sentences, the ne having been dispensed with, and we soon find spellings reflecting the sort of reduction in pronunciation from nought to not that one would expect from its often weakly-stressed position.
=> nought, ought
sir: sir: [13] In common with many other European terms of address for men (such as monsieur and señor), sir goes back ultimately to Latin senior ‘older’ (source also of English senior). This was reduced in Vulgar Latin to *seior, which found its way into Old French as *sieire, later sire. English borrowed this as sire [13], which in weakly-stressed positions (prefixed to names, for instance) became sir.

Other titles based on senior that have found their way into English include French monsieur [15] (literally ‘my sire’), together with its plural messieurs [17], abbreviated to messrs [18]; French seigneur [16]; Spanish señor [17]; and Italian signor [16]. Surly [16] is an alteration of an earlier sirly ‘lordly’, a derivative of sir.

The meaning ‘grumpy’ evolved via an intermediate ‘haughty’.
=> senator, senior, sire, surly
wimp: wimp: [20] The first record of the word wimp ‘feeble ineffectual person’ is from as long ago as 1920, but it was not used at all widely until the early 1960s. Its origins have never been satisfactorily explained. It is tempting to link it with J. Wellington Wimpy, a curious little man with a moustache who featured in the Popeye cartoons, but he was not around in the 1920s.

Nor is it altogether plausible that it came from American slang gimp ‘lame or handicapped person’. Perhaps the least unlikely suggestion is that it is short for whimper. No connection with the now obsolete slang wimp ‘woman’ [20] (perhaps an alteration of women) has ever been demonstrated. In the 1980s WIMP was used as an acronym for ‘weakly interacting massive particle’ and for ‘widows/icon/mouse/pointer’, a computer term.
namby-pamby (adj.): "weakly sentimental, insipidly pretty," 1745, from satiric nickname of English poet Ambrose Philips (1674-1749) mocking his sentimental pastorals addressed to infant members of the nobility. Used first in 1726 in a farce credited to Carey. Related: Namby-pambical.
weak (adj.): c. 1300, from Old Norse veikr "weak," cognate with Old English wac "weak, pliant, soft," from Proto-Germanic *waikwa- "yield" (cognates: Old Saxon wek, Swedish vek, Middle Dutch weec, Dutch week "weak, soft, tender," Old High German weih "yielding, soft," German weich "soft"), from PIE root *weik- (4) "to bend, wind" (see vicarious).

Sense of "lacking authority" is first recorded early 15c.; that of "lacking moral strength" late 14c. In grammar, denoting a verb inflected by regular syllabic addition rather than by change of the radical vowel, from 1833. Related: Weakly. Weak-kneed "wanting in resolve" is from 1870.
weedy (adj.): early 15c., from weed + -y (2). In old slang, in reference to horses, "not of good blood or strength, scraggy, worthless for breeding or racing," from 1800; hence, of persons, "thin and weakly" (1852).