英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

rostrum (n.)[rostrum 词源字典]: 1540s, from Latin rostrum, name of the platform stand for public speakers in the Forum in ancient Rome. It was decorated with the beaks of ships taken in the first naval victory of the Roman republic, over Antium, in 338 B.C.E., and the word's older sense is "end of a ship's prow," literally "beak, muzzle, snout," originally "means of gnawing," instrument noun form of rodere "to gnaw" (see rodent). Compare claustrum "lock, bar," from claudere "to shut." Extended sense of any platform for public speaking is first recorded 1766. Classical plural form is rostra.[rostrum etymology, rostrum origin, 英语词源]
rosy (adj.): late 14c., of a color, from rose (n.1) + -y (2), probably modeled on Old French rose. From 1590s of healthy complexions; 1775 in the sense "cheerful;" meaning "promising" is from 1887. Similar formation in Middle Dutch rosich, Dutch rozig, German rosig.
rot (v.): Old English rotian "to decay, putrefy," from Proto-Germanic *rutjan (cognates: Old Saxon roton, Old Norse rotna, Old Frisian rotia, Middle Dutch roten, Dutch rotten, Old High German rozzen "to rot," German rößen "to steep flax"), from stem *rut-. Related: Rotted; rotting.
rot (n.): early 14c., from rot (v.) or of Scandinavian origin (compare Icelandic rot, Swedish röta, Danish røde "decay, putrefaction"), from the root of the verb. Slang noun sense of "rubbish, trash" is from 1848.
rotary (adj.): 1731, from Medieval Latin rotarius "pertaining to wheels," from Latin rota "a wheel, a potter's wheel; wheel for torture," from PIE root *ret- "to run, to turn, to roll" (cognates: Sanskrit rathah "car, chariot;" Avestan ratho; Lithuanian ratas "wheel," ritu "I roll;" Old High German rad, German Rad, Dutch rad, Old Frisian reth, Old Saxon rath, Old Irish roth, Welsh rhod "carriage wheel"). The international service club (founded by Paul P. Harris in Chicago in 1905) so called from the practice of clubs entertaining in rotation. Hence Rotarian (1911).
rotate (v.): 1794, intransitive, back-formation from rotation. Transitive sense from 1823. Related: Rotated; rotating. Rotator "muscle which allows a part to be moved circularly" is recorded from 1670s.
rotation (n.): 1550s, from Latin rotationem (nominative rotatio) "a turning about in a circle," noun of action from past participle stem of rotare "turn round, revolve, whirl about, roll," from PIE *ret- "to run, roll" (see rotary).
rotational (adj.): 1852, from rotation + -al (1).
rotavirus (n.): wheel-shaped virus causing inflammation of the lining of the intestines, 1974, from Latin rota "wheel" (see rotary) + virus.
rote (n.): c. 1300, "custom, habit," in phrase bi rote "by heart," of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be connected with Old French rote "route" (see route (n.)), or from Latin rota "wheel" (see rotary), but OED calls both suggestions groundless.
rotgut (n.): also rot-gut, "unwholesome liquor," 1630s, from rot (v.) + gut (n.).
Rothschild: "rich person," 1833, in reference to the international banking family descended from Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) of Frankfurt. The surname is literally "red shield," a house name.
Rotifera (n.): class of microscopic freshwater organisms, 1830, Modern Latin, from Rotifer (Leeuwenhoek, 1702), from Latin rota "wheel" (see rotary) + -fer "bearing" (see bear (v.)). The animalcules use rotary organs to swim about.
rotisserie (n.): 1868, "restaurant where meat is roasted on a spit," from French rôtisserie "shop selling cooked food, restaurant," from present participle stem of rôtir "to roast," from Old French rostir (see roast (v.)). As an in-home cooking apparatus, attested from 1953. Manufacturers (or their copy writers) back-formed a verb, rotiss (1958). Rotisserie league (1980), a form of fantasy baseball, is based on La Rotisserie, the Manhattan restaurant where it was conceived.
rotogravure (n.): 1913, from German Rotogravur (originally, in full, Deutsche Tiefdrück Gesellschaft), said to blend two corporate names, Rotophot and Deutsche Photogravur A.G. Etymologically, the roots are Latin rota "wheel, roller" (see rotary) and French gravure "engraving" (see gravure). The process was used for printing photo sections of newspapers and magazines, so that the word came to be used for these.
rotor (n.): 1873, irregular shortening of rotator (see rotate (v.)), originally in mathematics. Mechanical sense is attested from 1903; specifically of helicopters from 1930.
Rototiller (n.): 1923, from roto-, from Latin rota "wheel" (see rotary) + tiller.
rotten (adj.): c. 1300, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse rotinn "decayed," past participle of verb related to rotna "to decay," from Proto-Germanic stem *rut- (see rot (v.)). Sense of "corrupt" is from late 14c.; weakened sense of "bad" first recorded 1881. Rotten apple is from a saying traced back to at least 1528: "For one rotten apple lytell and lytell putrifieth an whole heape." The Rotten Row in London and elsewhere probably is from a different word, but of uncertain origin.
rottenness (n.): late 14c., from rotten + -ness.
rotter (n.): "person deemed objectionable on moral grounds," 1889, slang, from rot + -er (3).