quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- brogue[brogue 词源字典]
- brogue: [16] A brogue was originally a rudimentary sort of shoe worn in the more wild and woolly Celtic corners of the British Isles; the term does not seem to have been applied to today’s ‘stout country walking shoe’ until the early 20th century. The word, Irish and Scots Gaelic brōg, comes from Old Norse brók ‘leg covering’, which is related to English breeches; the relationship between ‘leg covering’ and ‘foot covering’ is fairly close, and indeed from the 17th to the 19th century brogue was used for ‘leggings’.
It is not clear whether brogue ‘Irish accent’ [18] is the same word; if it is, it presumably comes from some such notion as ‘the speech of those who wear brogues’.
=> breeches[brogue etymology, brogue origin, 英语词源] - caterpillar
- caterpillar: [15] Etymologically, a caterpillar is a ‘hairy cat’. The word comes ultimately from late Latin *catta pilōsa: catta is the source of English cat, while pilōsus ‘hairy’ is a derivative of Latin pilus ‘hair’, from which English gets pile of a carpet. In Old French *catta pilōsa became chatepelose, which passed into English as catyrpel.
The present-day form arose in the 16th century, probably from association with the now obsolete piller ‘plunderer’ (related to English pillage) – caterpillars being regarded, of course, as plunderers of leaves. The notion that caterpillars resemble small furry mammals is also reflected in such names as pussmoth and woolly bear.
=> cat, pile - fleecy (adj.)
- 1560s, "woolly," from fleece (n.) + -y (2). From 1630s as "resembling fleece" in any sense (originally by Milton, of clouds).
- llama (n.)
- woolly-haired South American ruminant, c. 1600, from Spanish llama (1535), from Quechua (Peru) llama.
- wooly (adj.)
- also woolly, 1570s, "resembling or made of wool," from wool + -y (2). Meaning "barbarous, rude" is recorded 1891, from wild and wooly (1884) applied to the U.S. western frontier, perhaps in reference to range steers or to unkempt cowboys. Related: Wooliness.
- floccose
- "Covered with or consisting of woolly tufts", Mid 18th century: from late Latin floccosus, from Latin floccus 'flock'.