英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

dictator (n.)[dictator 词源字典]: late 14c., from Latin dictator, agent noun from dictare (see dictate (v.)). Transferred sense of "one who has absolute power or authority" in any sphere is from c. 1600. In Latin use, a dictator was a judge in the Roman republic temporarily invested with absolute power.[dictator etymology, dictator origin, 英语词源]
dictatorial (adj.): 1701; see dictator + -ial. Related: Dictatorially.
dictatorship (n.): 1580s, from dictator + -ship.
diction (n.): 1540s, "a word;" 1580s, "expression of ideas in words," from Late Latin dictionem (nominative dictio) "a saying, expression, word," noun of action from dic-, past participle stem of Latin dicere "speak, tell, say" (source of French dire "to say"), related to dicare "proclaim, dedicate," from PIE root *deik- "to point out" (cognates: Sanskrit dic- "point out, show," Greek deiknynai "to prove," Latin digitus "finger," Old High German zeigon, German zeigen "to show," Old English teon "to accuse," tæcan "to teach").
dictionary (n.): 1520s, from Medieval Latin dictionarium "collection of words and phrases," from Latin dictionarius "of words," from dictio "word" (see diction). Probably first English use in title of a book was in Sir Thomas Elyot's "Latin Dictionary" (1538) though Latin Dictionarius was so used from early 13c. Grose's 1788 "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" has "RICHARD SNARY. A dictionary."
DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work. [Bierce]
Dictograph: patented 1907 in U.S. by K.M. Turner and W. Donnan, from dictation + -graph "instrument for recording; something written."
dictum (n.): 1660s, from Latin dictum "thing said (a saying, bon-mot, prophecy, etc.), an order, command," neuter of dictus, past participle of dicere "say" (see diction). In legal use, a judge's expression of opinion which is not the formal resolution of a case.
did (v.): Old English dyde, past tense of do (v.). The only remainder in Germanic of the old linguistic pattern of forming a past tense by reduplication of the stem of the present tense. Far back in Germanic the equivalent of did was used as a suffix to make the past tenses of other verbs, hence the English -ed suffix (Old English -de).
didactic (adj.): 1650s, from French didactique, from Greek didaktikos "apt at teaching," from didaktos "taught," past participle of didaskein "teach," from PIE root *dens- "wisdom, to teach, learn." Related: Didactically; didacticism.
diddle (v.): "to cheat, swindle," 1806, from dialectal duddle, diddle "to totter" (1630s). Meaning "waste time" is recorded from 1825. Meaning "to have sex with" is from 1879; that of "to masturbate" (especially of women) is from 1950s. More or less unrelated meanings that have gathered around a suggestive sound. Related: Diddled; diddling.
didgeridoo (n.): 1924, Australian, of imitative origin.
didn't: by 1775, contraction of did not.
dido (n.): "prank, caper," 1807, American English slang, perhaps from the name of the Carthaginian queen in the "Aeneid." Usually in phrase to cut didoes.
didst: archaic 2nd person singular past indicative of do (q.v.).
die (v.): mid-12c., possibly from Old Danish døja or Old Norse deyja "to die, pass away," both from Proto-Germanic *dawjan (cognates: Old Frisian deja "to kill," Old Saxon doian, Old High German touwen, Gothic diwans "mortal"), from PIE root *dheu- (3) "to pass away, die, become senseless" (cognates: Old Irish dith "end, death," Old Church Slavonic daviti, Russian davit' "to choke, suffer").

It has been speculated that Old English had *diegan, from the same source, but it is not in any of the surviving texts and the preferred words were steorfan (see starve), sweltan (see swelter), wesan dead, also forðgan and other euphemisms.

Languages usually don't borrow words from abroad for central life experiences, but "die" words are an exception, because they are often hidden or changed euphemistically out of superstitious dread. A Dutch euphemism translates as "to give the pipe to Maarten." Regularly spelled dege through 15c., and still pronounced "dee" by some in Lancashire and Scotland. Used figuratively (of sounds, etc.) from 1580s. Related: Died; dies.
die (n.): early 14c. (as a plural, late 14c. as a singular), from Old French de "die, dice," which is of uncertain origin. Common Romanic (cognates: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian dado, Provençal dat, Catalan dau), perhaps from Latin datum "given," past participle of dare (see date (n.1)), which, in addition to "give," had a secondary sense of "to play" (as a chess piece); or else from "what is given" (by chance or Fortune). Sense of "stamping block or tool" first recorded 1690s.
diehard: also die-hard, 1844 (n.), in reference to the 57th Regiment of Foot in the British Army; as an adjective, attested from 1871; from die (v.) + hard (adv.). As a brand name of an automobile battery, DieHard, introduced by Sears in 1967.
dieresis (n.): also diaeresis, 1610s, "sign marking the division of a diphthong into two simple sounds," from Late Latin diaeresis, from Greek diairesis "division," noun of action from diairein "to divide, separate," from dia- "apart" (see dia-) + hairein "to take" (see heresy). In classical prosody, "the slight break in the forward motion of a line that is felt when the end of a foot coincides with the end of a word" [Miller Williams, "Patterns of Poetry"].
Dies Irae: literally "day of wrath," first words of Latin hymn of Last Judgment, attributed to Thomas of Celano (c. 1250). See diurnal + ire.
diesel (adj.): 1894, named for Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), German mechanical engineer who designed this type of engine.