英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

ditch (v.)[ditch 词源字典]: late 14c., "surround with a ditch; dig a ditch;" from ditch (n.). Meaning "to throw into a ditch" is from 1816, hence sense of "abandon, discard," first recorded 1899 in American English. Of aircraft, by 1941. Related: Ditched; ditching.[ditch etymology, ditch origin, 英语词源]
ditheism (n.): "belief in the existence of two gods," 1670s, from di- (1) + theism.
dither (v.): 1640s, "to quake, tremble," phonetic variant of Middle English didderen (late 14c.), which is of uncertain origin. The sense of "vacillate, be anxious" is from 1819. Related: Dithered; dithering.
dithyramb (n.): c. 1600, from Latin dithyrambus, from Greek dithyrambos, which is of unknown origin, perhaps a pre-Hellenic loan-word. A wild choric hymn, originally in honor of Dionysus or Bacchus. Related: Dithyrambic.
ditto: 1620s, Tuscan dialectal ditto "(in) the said (month or year)," literary Italian detto, past participle of dire "to say," from Latin dicere (see diction).

Originally used in Italian to avoid repetition of month names in a series of dates; generalized meaning of "same as above" first recorded in English 1670s. Dittohead, self-description of followers of U.S. radio personality Rush Limbaugh, attested by 1995. dittoship is from 1869.
ditty (n.): "short song," c. 1300, from Old French ditie "composition, poem, treatise," from Latin dictatum "thing dictated," neuter past participle of dictare "dictate" (see dictate (v.)).
ditty bag (n.): 1850s nautical slang, perhaps from British naval phrase commodity bag.
ditzy (adj.): also ditsy, "stupid, scatterbrained" (especially of women), by 1973, U.S. slang, of unknown origin; one guess is that it is related to earlier U.S. black slang dicty (1926) "conceited, snobbish," also of unknown origin, but the sense is very difficult. The noun ditz (1982) appears to be a back-formation.
diuresis (n.): medical Latin, from Greek diourein "to urinate" (see diuretic) + -esis.
diuretic: c. 1400 (adjective and noun), from Old French diuretique, from Late Latin diureticus, from Greek diouretikos "prompting urine," from diourein "urinate," from dia "through" (see dia-) + ourein "urinate," from ouron (see urine).
diurnal (adj.): late 14c., from Late Latin diurnalis "daily," from Latin dies "day" + -urnus, an adjectival suffix denoting time (compare hibernus "wintery"). Dies "day" is from PIE root *dyeu- "to shine" (cognates: Sanskrit diva "by day," Welsh diw, Breton deiz "day;" Armenian tiw; Lithuanian diena; Old Church Slavonic dini, Polish dzień, Russian den), literally "to shine" (compare Greek delos "clear;" Latin deus, Sanskrit deva "god," literally "shining one;" Avestan dava- "spirit, demon;" Lithuanian devas, Old Norse tivar "gods;" Old English Tig, genitive Tiwes, see Tuesday).
diva (n.): "distinguished woman singer, prima donna," 1883, from Italian diva "goddess, fine lady," from Latin diva "goddess," fem. of divus "divine (one);" see divine (adj.).
divagate (v.): 1590s, from Latin divagatus, past participle of divagari "to wander about," from di(s)- "apart" (see dis-) + vagari "to wander, ramble" (see vague). Related: Divagated; divagating.
divagation (n.): 1550s, noun of action from Latin divagatus, past participle of divagari (see divagate).
divan (n.): 1580s, "Oriental council of state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan, from Persian devan "bundle of written sheets, small book, collection of poems" (as in the "Divan i-Hafiz"), related to debir "writer."

Sense evolved through "book of accounts," to "office of accounts," "custom house," "council chamber," then to "long, cushioned seat," such as are found along the walls in Middle Eastern council chambers (see couch). The sofa/couch sense was taken into English 1702; the "book of poems" sense in 1823.
dive (v.): mid-13c., from Old English dufan "to dive, duck, sink" (intransitive, class II strong verb; past tense deaf, past participle dofen) and dyfan "to dip, submerge" (weak, transitive), from Proto-Germanic verb *dubijan, from PIE *dheub- "deep, hollow" (see deep (adj.)). Past tense dove is a later formation, perhaps on analogy of drive/drove. Related: Diving. Dive bomber attested by 1939.
dive (n.): c. 1700, from dive (v.). Sense of "disreputable bar" is first recorded American English 1871, perhaps because they were usually in basements, and going into one was both a literal and figurative "diving."
diver (n.): c. 1500, agent noun from dive (v.).
diverge (v.): 1660s, from Modern Latin divergere "go in different directions," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + vergere "to bend, turn" (see verge (v.)). Originally a term in optics; the figurative sense is 19c. Related: Diverged; diverging.
divergence (n.): 1650s, from Modern Latin divergentia, from divergens (see diverge). Related: Divergency.