英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

devious [devious 词源字典]: devious: [16] Devious and its close relative deviate [17] are both based on the notion of going ‘out of the way’. They come respectively from Latin dēvius and dēviāre, compound adjective and verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘from’ and via ‘way’.
=> deviate, via[devious etymology, devious origin, 英语词源]
devolution: devolution: see volume
devout: devout: [13] Essentially, devout and devote [16] are the same word; they come from an identical source, but reached English along different routes. That source is dēvōtus, the past participle of Latin dēvovēre, which was a compound formed from the intensive prefix dē- and vovēre ‘promise’ (source of English vote and vow). This entered English originally via Old French devot as an adjective, and was then reborrowed directly from Latin in the 16th century as the basis for a verb.
=> devote, vote, vow
dew: dew: [OE] Dew is an ancient word, which can be traced back to the Indo-European base *dheu-; this also produced Greek thein ‘run’ and Sanskrit dhāv ‘flow, wash’ (whence, via Hindi, English dhobi ‘Indian washerman’ [19]) and dhaūtís ‘brook’. Its Germanic descendant was *dauwaz, which produced (besides English dew) German tau, Dutch dauw, and Swedish dagg.
=> dhobi
dextrous: dextrous: [17] Just as the left hand has always been associated with awkwardness or maladroitness (cack-handed), so the right hand has traditionally been credited with skill: hence dextrous, a derivative of Latin dexter, which meant ‘on the right side’ and thus by extension ‘skilful’. This came ultimately, like Greek dexiós, Gothic taihswa, Breton dehou, Russian desnoj, and many other related forms in the general semantic area ‘right-hand side’, from an Indo-European base *dek-. English acquired the Latin adjective itself as a heraldic term in the 16th century.
dhobi: dhobi: see dew
diabetes: diabetes: [16] Diabetes means literally ‘passing through’; it was originally so named in Greek because one of the symptoms of the disease is excessive discharge of urine. Greek diabétēs was a derivative of diabaínein ‘pass through’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘through’ and baínein ‘go’ (a relative of English basis and come). English acquired it via medieval Latin diabētēs. Compare DIARRHOEA.
=> basis, come
diabolical: diabolical: see devil
diadem: diadem: [13] A diadem was originally something that was bound round someone’s head. The word comes, via Old French diademe and Latin diadēma, from Greek diádēma; this was a derivative of diadein, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘across’ and dein ‘bind’. In Greek it was often applied specifically to the regal headband worn by Alexander the Great and his successors.
diaeresis: diaeresis: see heresy
diagnosis: diagnosis: [17] The underlying meaning of Greek diágnōsis was ‘knowing apart’. It was derived from diagignóskein ‘distinguish, discern’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘apart’ and gignóskein ‘know, perceive’ (a relative of English know): In postclassical times the general notion of ‘distinguishing’ or ‘discerning’ was applied specifically to medical examination in order to determine the nature of a disease.
=> know
diagonal: diagonal: [16] Diagonal is commonly used simply as a synonym for oblique, but in strict mathematical terms it denotes a line joining two non-adjacent angles of a polygon. This reveals far more clearly its origins. It comes from diagōnālis, a Latin adjective derived from Greek diagónios. This was a compound formed from the prefix dia- ‘across’ and gōníā ‘angle’ (as in English polygon), meaning ‘from angle to angle’. Gōníā is related ultimately to English knee and genuine.
=> genuine, knee, polygon
dial: dial: [15] The original application of the word dial in English is ‘sundial’. The evidence for its prehistory is patchy, but it is generally presumed to have come from medieval Latin diālis ‘daily’, a derivative of Latin diēs ‘day’, the underlying notion being that it records the passage of a 24- hour period.
dialect: dialect: [16] The notion underlying dialect and its relatives dialectic [14] and dialogue [13] is of ‘conversation’. They come ultimately from Greek dialégesthai ‘converse’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘with each other’ and légein ‘speak’ (source of English lecture and a wide range of related words). This formed the basis of two derived nouns.

First diálektos ‘conversation, discourse’, hence ‘way of speaking’ and eventually ‘local speech’, which passed into English via Latin dialectus and Old French dialecte (from it was produced the adjective dialektikós ‘of conversation, discussion, or debate’, which was eventually to become English dialectic). Secondly diálogos ‘conversation’, which again reached English via Latin and Old French.
=> lecture
dialysis: dialysis: [16] As in the case of its close relative analysis, the underlying etymological notion contained in dialysis is of undoing or loosening, so that the component parts are separated. The word comes ultimately from Greek diálusis, a derivative of dialúein ‘tear apart’; this was a compound verb formed from the prefix dia- ‘apart’ and lúein ‘loosen, free’ (related to English less, loose, lose, and loss).

In Greek it meant simply ‘separation’, but it was borrowed into English, via Latin dialysis, as a rhetorical term denoting a set of propositions without a connecting conjunction. The chemical sense, ‘separation of molecules or particles’ (from which the modern application to ‘renal dialysis’ comes), was introduced in the 1860s by the chemist Thomas Graham (1805–69).
=> analysis, less, loose, lose, loss
diamond: diamond: [13] Diamond is an alteration of adamant, a rather archaic term which nowadays refers to hard substances in general, but formerly was also used specifically for ‘diamond’. The alteration appears to have come about in Latin of post-classical times: adamant- (stem of Latin adamas) evidently became Vulgar Latin *adimant- (source of French aimant ‘magnet’), which appears to have opened the way to confusion, or at least association, with words beginning dia-. The result was medieval Latin diamant-, which passed into English via Old French diamant.
=> adamant
diapason: diapason: [14] Diapason, a musical term now used mainly for the main stops on an organ, and also metaphorically for ‘range, scope’ in general, originally meant literally ‘through all’. It comes, via Latin diapāsōn, from the Greek phrase hē dia pasōn khordon sumphonía ‘concord through all the notes’: dia means ‘through’, and pasōn is the feminine genitive plural of pas ‘all’ (as in the English prefix pan- ‘all’).
diaper: diaper: [14] The notion underlying diaper is of extreme whiteness. It comes ultimately from Byzantine Greek díaspros, which was a compound formed from the intensive prefix diaand áspros ‘white’. (Aspros itself has an involved history: it started life as Latin asper ‘rough’ – source of English asperity – which was applied particularly to bas-relief on carvings and coins; it was borrowed into Byzantine Greek and used as a noun to designate silver coins, and their brightness and shininess led to its reconversion into an adjective, meaning ‘white’.) Díaspros appears originally to have been applied to ecclesiastical vestments, and subsequently to any shiny fabric.

When the word first entered English, via medieval Latin diasprum and Old French diapre, it referred to a rather rich silk fabric embellished with gold thread, but by the 16th century it was being used for less glamorous textiles, of white linen, with a small diamond-shaped pattern. The specific application to a piece of such cloth used as a baby’s nappy (still current in American English) seems to have developed in the 16th century.
=> asperity
diaphanous: diaphanous: [17] Semantically, diaphanous is the ancestor of modern English see-through. It comes, via medieval Latin diaphanus, from Greek diaphanés, a compound adjective formed from dia- ‘through’ and the verb phaínein ‘show’. Originally in English it meant simply ‘transparent’, without its present-day connotations of delicacy: ‘Aristotle called light a quality inherent, or cleaving to a Diaphanous body’, Walter Raleigh, History of the World 1614.
diaphragm: diaphragm: [17] The etymological notion underlying diaphragm is of a sort of ‘fence’ or ‘partition’ within the body. It comes via late Latin diaphragma from Greek diáphragma. This in turn was a derivative of diaphrássein ‘divide off, barricade’, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dia- and phrássein ‘fence in, enclose’. Originally in Greek diáphragma was applied to other bodily partitions than that between the thorax and the abdomen – to the septum which divides the two nostrils, for instance.