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sombre [sombre 词源字典]: sombre: [18] Something that is sombre is etymologically ‘under a shadow, in the shade’. The word comes from French sombre, an adjective derived ultimately from Vulgar Latin *subombrāre ‘put in shadow, shade’. This was a compound verb formed from Latin sub- ‘under’ and umbra ‘shade, shadow’ (source of English umbrage, umbrella, etc). Another descendant of Vulgar Latin *subombrāre is Spanish sombra ‘shade’, from which was derived sombrero ‘hat for giving shade’, borrowed by English in the 18th century.
=> sombrero, umbrage, umbrella[sombre etymology, sombre origin, 英语词源]
some: some: [OE] Some goes back ultimately to Indo- European *smmos, which passed into prehistoric Germanic as *sumaz. This has now died out in most Germanic languages other than English, although a few derivatives survive, such as Dutch sommige ‘some’. The Indo-European form also produced Greek hamos ‘somehow’ and Sanskrit samás ‘some, every’, and variants of the base from which it came have also given English same, seem, similar, and simple.
=> same, seem, similar, simple
somersault: somersault: [16] Somersaults have no connection with ‘summer’. The first element of the word means etymologically ‘over’. It comes from Old French sombresault, an alteration of an earlier sobresault. And this in turn was acquired from Provençal *sobresaut, a compound formed from sobre ‘over, above’ (a descendant of Latin sūpra) and saut ‘jump’ (a descendant of Latin saltus, which has close relatives in English assault, insult, sauté, etc).
=> assault, insult, result, sauté
son: son: [OE] Son is an ancient word, with relatives in several Indo-European languages: Russian, Polish, and Czech syn, for instance, Sanskrit sūnús, and Greek huiús. These point back to an ancestral *sunu- or *sunyu-. This may have been related to Sanskrit sú- ‘bear, carry’, in which case its original meaning would have been ‘birth’, which evolved via ‘offspring’ to ‘son’. The prehistoric Germanic descendant of *sunuwas *sunuz, which has diversified into German sohn, Dutch zoon, Danish søn, and English and Swedish son.
sonata: sonata: see sound
song: song: [OE] Song comes from a prehistoric Germanic *sanggwaz, a derivative of the same base that produced sing. Its Germanic relatives include German and Danish sang, Dutch zang, and Swedish sång.
=> sing
sonnet: sonnet: [16] A sonnet is etymologically a ‘little sound’. The word comes, via French sonnet and Italian sonetto, from Provençal sonet, a diminutive form of son ‘song’. This in turn was descended from Latin sonus ‘sound’ (source of English sound).
=> sound
sonorous: sonorous: see sound
soon: soon: [OE] In Old English times, soon meant ‘straightaway’, but human nature being what it is, the tendency to procrastinate led over the centuries to a change in meaning to ‘after a short while’. (The same thing happened to anon, and is in the process of happening to directly.) The word itself comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *sǣnō, whose other descendants apart from soon have all but died out.
soot: soot: [OE] Soot is etymologically that which ‘sits’ on something – that is, a film which settles on a surface. The word comes from a prehistoric Germanic *sōtam, which was descended from the Indo-European base *sōd-, *sed- ‘sit’ (source also of English settle, sit, etc). By the time it reached English it had become specialized in meaning to the ‘fine black particles produced by burning’.
=> settle, sit
sooth: sooth: [OE] Sooth ‘truth’ (which now survives in current usage only in the compound soothsayer [14]) goes back ultimately to Indo-European *sntyós (possible ancestor also of English sin). This was a derivative of the base *es- ‘be’, and hence etymologically means ‘that which is’. It passed into prehistoric Germanic as the adjective *santhaz.

As in English, in most other Germanic languages the word has now died out, but it survives in Swedish (sann) and Danish (sand) as an adjective meaning ‘true’. From the Old English form sōth a verb was formed, sōthian ‘prove to be true’, which has evolved into modern English soothe. Its present-day meaning did not emerge, via intermediate ‘confirm’ and ‘please or flatter by confirming or agreeing’, until the 17th century.
=> soothe
sop: sop: [OE] The word sop originally denoted a ‘piece of bread, cake, etc dipped into water, milk, wine, or similar liquid’. The modern metaphorical meaning ‘something given to gain favour, bribe’ did not emerge until the mid-17th century, in allusion to the piece of bread soaked in enticing honey but spiked with a soporific drug that was given to the guard dog Cerberus to put him to sleep so that Aeneas could visit the Underworld.

The word goes back ultimately to the same prehistoric Germanic base (*sup-) that produced English sip and sup ‘drink’, and also, via the Romance languages, soup and supper. The corresponding verb sop ‘dip in liquid’ now survives only in the present participial form sopping ‘soaking wet’ [19].
=> sip, soup, sup, supper
sophisticate: sophisticate: [14] As those who hanker for the ancestral meanings of words never tire of pointing out, sophisticated originally meant ‘adulterated, corrupted’. The modern approbatory sense ‘worldly-wise, cultured’ did not emerge (via an intermediate ‘lacking primitive or original naturalness or naivety’) until the end of the 19th century; and ‘refined and elaborate’ (as in ‘a sophisticated missile system’) is more recent still, not being recorded until after World War II.

The verb was adapted from the past participle of medieval Latin sophisticāre. This was derived from Latin sophisticus, a borrowing from Greek sophistikós, which in turn was derived from sophistés, a noun which meant literally ‘expert, deviser’, but was also used for a school of 5thcentury BC Greek philosophers (the Sophists) who came to be despised for their specious and intellectually dishonest reasoning (hence English sophistry [14]). Sophistés itself came via sophízesthai ‘play subtle tricks’ from sophós ‘skilled, clever, wise’, a word of unknown origin. Sophomore ‘second-year student’ [17] is an alteration of an earlier sophumer ‘arguer’, a derivative of sophum, which is a now defunct variant of sophism.
=> sophistry, sophomore
soprano: soprano: see super
sorbet: sorbet: see sherbet
sorcerer: sorcerer: [16] A sorcerer is etymologically a drawer of ‘lots’ – for the word comes ultimately from Latin sors ‘lot’ (source also of English sort). The plural sortēs was used for the ‘responses made by oracles’, and this formed the basis of the Vulgar Latin noun *sortārius ‘priest of the oracle’, hence ‘caster of spells’. It passed into English via Old French sorcier as sorser, which was later extended to sorcerer.
=> sort
sore: sore: [OE] Sore comes from a prehistoric Germanic *sairaz ‘painful, pained’, which was related to Irish Gaelic sāeth ‘affliction, sickness’ and possibly Latin saevus ‘fierce’. It was borrowed into Finnish as sairas ‘ill’. The adverbial use of sore as an intensive (as in ‘sore afraid’) has now died out, but it survives in the related German sehr ‘very’. The word’s ancestral connotations were of mental as well as physical pain, and while sore has preserved the latter, the derivative sorry has kept to the former.
=> sorry
sorrel: sorrel: see sour
sorry: sorry: [OE] Sorry goes back to a prehistoric West Germanic *sairig-, a derivative of *sairaz (source of English sore). The original base denoted physical as well as mental pain, but it is the latter semantic path that has been taken by sorry. Despite the similarity, incidentally, sorry has no etymological connection with sorrow [OE], which comes from a prehistoric Germanic base meaning ‘care’, and is related to modern German sorge ‘worry, sorrow’.
=> sore
sort: sort: [14] Latin sors originally denoted a ‘piece of wood used for drawing lots’ (it is the source of English sorcerer). It later developed metaphorically into ‘that which is allotted to one by fate’, and hence one’s ‘fortune’ or ‘condition’, and by the time it had turned into *sorta, in the post-Latin precursor of the Romance languages, its meaning had evolved further to ‘rank, class, order’. It was this sense that reached English, via Old French sorte. The notion of ‘arranging into classes’ underlies the verb sort, and also the derived assort [15]. From the same source comes consort [15].
=> assort, consort, sorcerer