英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

rabbi [rabbi 词源字典]: rabbi: [14] Hebrew rabbī meant ‘my master’. It was a compound formed from rabh ‘great one’ and the pronoun suffix -ī ‘my’. English originally acquired the word, via Latin, at the end of the Old English period, but only in biblical contexts, as a term of address equivalent to English master (as in ‘Jesus … saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou?’ John 1:38). Not until the 14th century did it begin to be used as an ordinary noun, meaning ‘Jewish spiritual leader’.
[rabbi etymology, rabbi origin, 英语词源]
rabbit: rabbit: [14] Rabbit was probably introduced into English from Old French. No immediate source is known to have existed, but we do have corroborative evidence in French dialect rabotte ‘young rabbit’ and Walloon robète. The latter was a diminutive derivative of Flemish robbe (Walloon is the form of French spoken in Flanders and Belgium), and it seems likely that the word’s ultimate origins are Low German. At first it was used only for ‘young rabbit’ in English, and it did not really begin to take over from cony as the general term for the animal until the 18th century.
rabies: rabies: [17] Latin rabiēs meant ‘fury, madness’ (it is the source of English rage). Hence it came to be used for ‘madness in dogs’, and was subsequently adopted as the name of the disease causing this, when it came to be identified. The word was derived from the verb rabere ‘be mad’, as also was rabidus, source of English rabid [17].
=> rabid, rage
race: race: For such a common word – or rather two words, for ‘people, population’ [16] and ‘speed competition’ [13] are unrelated – surprisingly little is known about the origins of race. The former comes via French from Italian razza, but the antecedents of razza are obscure. The ‘running’ race originally meant ‘rush’, and was borrowed from Old Norse rás ‘rush, running, race’ – again, of unknown origin.
raceme: raceme: see raisin
rack: rack: English has no fewer than four distinct words rack. The oldest, ‘framework’ [14], was borrowed from Dutch rak, which was probably a derivative of the Middle Dutch verb recken ‘stretch’. Rack ‘destruction’ [16], now used only in the phrase rack and ruin, is a variant of wrack, which is closely related to wreak and wreck. Rack, or wrack, ‘mass of wind-driven cloud’ [14] was probably acquired from Old Norse (Swedish has the probably related rak). And rack ‘drain wine off its lees’ [15] was borrowed from Provençal arracar, a derivative of raca ‘dregs’.
=> wrack, wreak, wreck
racket: racket: Racket for playing tennis [16] and racket ‘noise’ [16] are unrelated words. The former was borrowed from French raquette, which originally meant ‘palm of the hand’. This goes back via Italian racchetta to Arabic rāhat, a variant of rāha ‘palm of the hand’. The origins of racket ‘noise’ are not known, although the probability is that it started life as a verbal imitation of an uproar.
radar: radar: see radio
radical: radical: [14] Etymologically, radical means ‘of roots’. Its modern political meaning, based on the metaphor of fundamental change, going to the ‘roots’ of things, did not begin to emerge until the 18th century. The word was borrowed from late Latin rādīcālis, a derivative of Latin rādīx ‘root’ (source of English radish [OE] and probably related to root).
=> radish, ramify, root
radio: radio: [20] Radio began life, in the first decade of the 20th century, as an abbreviation of radiotelegraphy, a compound based on Latin radius. This originally meant ‘staff, stake’, but it is its secondary meanings that have contributed significantly to English: ‘spoke of a wheel’, for instance, lies behind English radius [16], and the notion of a ‘ray’ has produced radiant [15], radiate [17], radium [19] (etymologically a metal emitting ‘rays’), and indeed ray. Radiotelegraphy itself denoted the sending of messages by electromagnetic ‘rays’. Radar [20], coined in the USA in 1941, is an acronym formed from radio detection and ranging.
=> radar, radiate, radius, radium, ray
radish: radish: see radical
raffish: raffish: see raft
raffle: raffle: [14] Raffle was originally the name of a game played with three dice; the modern application to a ‘prize draw’ did not emerge until the 18th century. The word was borrowed from Old French raffle ‘act of snatching’, but where this came from is not known.
raft: raft: [15] The ancestor of raft meant ‘beam, rafter’. This was Old Norse raptr. Not until it got into English, apparently, was it used for a ‘craft made by tying logs together’. (It should not, incidentally, be confused with the mainly American raft ‘large collection, lot’ [19], which is an alteration of Scottish English raff ‘rubbish’ – probable source of English raffish [19]. This too may well be of Scandinavian origin – Swedish has rafs ‘rubbish’.) Rafter [OE] comes from a Germanic source that was probably also responsible for raft.
=> raffish, rafter
rag: rag: English has four separate words rag, none of them with very well-documented histories. The origins of the oldest, ‘rough building stone’ [13], are completely unknown. Rag ‘piece of cloth’ [14] is probably a back-formation from ragged [13], which was adapted from Old Norse roggvathr ‘tufted’. This in turn was derived from rogg ‘tuft of fur’, but no one knows where that came from. Rag ‘taunt, piece of fun’ [18] is completely mysterious, although some connection with Danish dialect rag ‘grudge’ has been suggested. And finally rag ‘syncopated jazz’ [19] is short for ragtime, which is probably an alteration of ragged time.
rage: rage: [13] Rage is a close relative of rabies. It comes via Old French rage from Vulgar Latin *rabia, an alteration of Latin rabiēs ‘madness, frenzy, fury’ (from which English gets rabies). (French rage still means ‘rabies’ as well as ‘anger’.)
=> rabies
raid: raid: [15] Raid and road are doublets – that is to say, they have a common ancestor, but have diverged over the centuries. In this case the ancestor was Old English rād ‘riding’, hence ‘hostile incursion on horse-back’, a relative of ride. South of the border this developed to road, and lost its predatory connotations (although they are preserved in inroads), but in Scottish English it became raid. This had more or less died out by the end of the 16th century, but Sir Walter Scott revived it at the beginning of the 19th century, and it has gone from strength to strength ever since.
=> ride, road
rail: rail: English has three words rail. The oldest, ‘rod, bar’ [13], comes via Old French reille ‘iron bar’ from Latin rēgula ‘straight stick, rod’, source of English regular and rule. The bird-name rail [15] goes back via Old Northern French raille to Vulgar Latin *rascula, which probably originated in imitation of the bird’s hoarse cry.

And rail ‘complain, be abusive’ [15] comes via Old French railler ‘mock’ and Provençal ralhar ‘scoff’ from Vulgar Latin *ragulāre ‘bray’, an alteration of ragere ‘neigh, roar’. This in turn was a blend of Latin rugīre ‘bellow’ and Vulgar Latin *bragere ‘bray’ (source of English bray [13]). Raillery [17] and rally ‘tease’ [17] come from the same source.
=> regular, rule; bray, rally
rain: rain: [OE] Rain is an exclusively Germanic word, not shared by any other language group in the Indo-European family. Its prehistoric ancestor *reg- has evolved into German and Dutch regen, Swedish and Danish regn, and English rain. There may be some connection with Old Norse rakr ‘wet’.
raise: raise: [12] Raise is first cousin to rear. It was borrowed from Old Norse reisa, which was descended from the same prehistoric Germanic verb as produced English rear ‘lift, rise’. This was *raizjan, a derivative of the same source as gave English rise.
=> rear, rise