英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

narrative (n.)[narrative 词源字典]: "a tale, story," 1560s, from Middle French narrative and from narrative (adj.).[narrative etymology, narrative origin, 英语词源]
narrator (n.): 1610s, from Latin narrator "a relater, narrator, historian," agent noun from narrat-, stem of narrare "to tell, relate" (see narration). In sense of "a commentator in a radio program" it is from 1941.
narrow (adj.): Old English nearu "narrow, constricted, limited; petty; causing difficulty, oppressive; strict, severe," from West Germanic *narwaz "narrowness" (cognates: Frisian nar, Old Saxon naru, Middle Dutch nare, Dutch naar); not found in other Germanic languages and of unknown origin. The narrow seas (c. 1400) were the waters between Great Britain and the continent and Ireland. Related: Narrowness.
narrow (n.): c. 1200, nearewe "narrow part, place, or thing," from narrow (adj.). Old English nearu (n.) meant "danger, distress, difficulty," also "prison, hiding place."
narrow (v.): Old English nearwian "to force in, cramp, confine; become smaller, shrink;" see narrow (adj.). Related: Narrowed; narrowing.
narrow-minded (adj.): also narrow minded, 1620s, from narrow (adj.) + minded. Related: Narrow-mindedness. Middle English had narrow-hearted "mean, ungenerous, ignoble" (c. 1200).
narrowly (adv.): Old English nearolice "narrowly, closely, strictly;" see narrow (adj.) + -ly (2). Meaning "only by a little" is attested from 1550s.
narrows (n.): "narrow place in a river, etc.," 1630s, plural of narrow (n.).
narthex (n.): "porch at the west end of early churches" (used by penitents not admitted to the body of the church), 1670s, from Late Greek narthex, in classical Greek "giant fennel," of unknown origin. The architectural feature allegedly so called from fancied resemblance of porch to a hollow stem. The word also was used in Greek to mean "a small case for unguents, etc." According to Hesiod ("Theogeny"), Prometheus conveyed fire from Heaven to Earth in hollow fennel stalks. Related: Narthecal.
narwhal (n.): 1650s, from Danish and Norwegian narhval, probably a metathesis of Old Norse nahvalr, literally "corpse-whale," from na "corpse" + hvalr "whale" (see whale). So called from resemblance of its whitish color to that of dead bodies. The first element is from PIE *nau- (1) "death; to be exhausted" (cognates: Old English ne, neo, Gothic naus "corpse," Old Cornish naun, Old Church Slavonic navi, Old Prussian nowis "corpse," Lettish nawe "death," Lithuanian novyti "to torture, kill").
nary (adj.): 1746, alteration of ne'er a, short for never a.
NASA: U.S. space agency, acronym of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, set up in 1958.
nasal (adj.): 1650s, "of the nose," from French nasal, from Latin nasus "nose, the nose, sense of smell," from PIE *nas- (see nose (n.)). Of speech sounds, attested from 1660s. As a noun, "nasal letter or sound," from 1660s. Related: Nasality; nasalization.
NASCAR: acronym for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, U.S. auto racing promotion group founded 1948 in Daytona Beach, Florida. NASCAR dad in U.S. political parlance, "small-town, often Southern white man who abandons traditional Democratic leanings to vote Republican at least once every four years" coined 2003 by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake.
nascent (adj.): 1620s, from Latin nascentem (nominative nascens) "arising young, immature," present participle of nasci "to be born" (Old Latin gnasci; see genus). Related: Nascence (1560s); nascency.
NASDAQ: U.S. stock exchange, founded 1971, an acronym from National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations.
Nashville: capital of Tennessee, U.S., named for Gen. Francis Nash (1742-1777) of North Carolina, U.S. Revolutionary War hero killed at the Battle of Germantown. The surname is attested from 1296 in Sussex Subsidy Rolls, atten Eysse, atte Nasche (with assimilation of -n- from a preposition; see N), meaning "near an ash tree," or "near a place called Ash." In reference to a type of country & western music that originated there, 1963.
nasopharynx (n.): 1877, from naso-, comb. form of Latin nasus "nose" (see nose (n.)) + pharynx.
Nassau: capital of the Bahamas, from a site name attested from 1690s, in honor of King William III of England (1650-1702), of the House of Orange-Nassau, from the duchy of Nassau in western Germany, named for a village in the Lahn valley, from Old High German nass "wet." Related: Nassauvian.
nasturtium (n.): mid-12c., "plant of the mustard family, like watercress," from Latin nasturtium "cress;" the popular etymology explanation of the name (Pliny) is that it is from Latin *nasitortium, literally "nose-twist," from nasus "nose" (see nose (n.)) + past participle of torquere "to twist" (see torque (n.)); the plant so called for its pungent odor. Modern application to a South American trailing plant with orange flowers first recorded 1704.