英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

scythe (v.)[scythe 词源字典]: 1570s, "use a scythe;" 1590s "to mow;" from scythe (n.). From 1897 as "move with the sweeping motion of a scythe." Related: Scythed; scything.[scythe etymology, scythe origin, 英语词源]
Scythian (n.): 1540s, from Latin Scythia, from Greek Skythia, name anciently given to the region along the north coast of the Black Sea, from Skythes "a Scythian," said to be from an Indo-European root meaning "shepherd" [Room]. As an adjective from 1560s. Herodotus is responsible for Scythian disease or Scythian insanity.
se-: word-forming element, from Latin se-, collateral form of sed- "without, apart, aside, on one's own," related to sed, Latin reflexive pronoun (accusative and ablative), from PIE *sed-, extended form of root *s(w)e-, pronoun of the third person and reflexive (source also of German sich; see idiom).
sea (n.): Old English sæ "sheet of water, sea, lake, pool," from Proto-Germanic *saiwaz (cognates: Old Saxon seo, Old Frisian se, Middle Dutch see, Swedish sjö), of unknown origin, outside connections "wholly doubtful" [Buck]. Meaning "large quantity" (of anything) is from c. 1200. Meaning "dark area of the moon's surface" is attested from 1660s (see mare (n.2)).

Germanic languages also use the general Indo-European word (represented by English mere (n.)), but have no firm distinction between "sea" and "lake," either by size, by inland or open, or by salt vs. fresh. This may reflect the Baltic geography where the languages are thought to have originated. The two words are used more or less interchangeably in Germanic, and exist in opposite senses (such as Gothic saiws "lake," marei "sea;" but Dutch zee "sea," meer "lake"). Compare also Old Norse sær "sea," but Danish sø, usually "lake" but "sea" in phrases. German See is "sea" (fem.) or "lake" (masc.). The single Old English word sæ glosses Latin mare, aequor, pontus, pelagus, and marmor.

Phrase sea change "transformation" is attested from 1610, first in Shakespeare ("The Tempest," I.ii). Sea anemone is from 1742; sea legs is from 1712; sea level from 1806; sea urchin from 1590s. At sea in the figurative sense of "perplexed" is attested from 1768, from literal sense of "out of sight of land" (c. 1300).
sea monkey (n.): 1909 as a heraldic animal, 1964 as a U.S. proprietary name for brine shrimp (Artemia salina), which had been used as food for aquarium fish till they began to be marketed as pets by U.S. inventor Harold von Braunhut (d.2003), who also invented "X-Ray Specs" and popularized pet hermit crabs. He began marketing them in comic book advertisements in 1960 as "Instant Life," and changed the name to Sea Monkeys in 1964, so called for their long tails.
sea-breeze (n.): one blowing from the sea to the shore, 1690s, from sea + breeze (n.).
sea-dog (n.): 1590s, "harbor seal," from sea + dog (n.). Also "pirate" (1650s). Meaning "old seaman, sailor who has been long afloat" is attested from 1840.
sea-floor (n.): 1832, from sea + floor (n.).
sea-green (n.): as a color, 1590s, from sea + green (adj.). As an adjective from c. 1600.
sea-horse (n.): late 15c., "walrus," from sea + horse (n.); also see walrus. Also in heraldry as a fabulous animal with the foreparts of a horse and the tail of a fish. Main modern sense in zoology is attested from 1580s.
sea-lion (n.): c. 1600, "kind of lobster," from sea + lion. Later the name of a fabulous animal (in heraldry, etc.), 1660s. Applied from 1690s to various species of large eared seals. As code name for the planned German invasion of Britain, it translates German Seelöwe, announced by Hitler July 1940, scrubbed October 1940.
sea-monster (n.): 1580s, from sea + monster. Sea serpent is attested from 1640s. In Old English a sea-monster might be called sædraca "sea dragon," or sædeor.
sea-salt (n.): c. 1600, from sea + salt (n.).
Seabee (n.): 1942, from pronunciation of C.B., abbreviation of Construction Battalion, formed as a volunteer branch of the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy.
seaboard (n.): "seaward side of a ship," late 15c., from sea + board (n.2).
seacoal (n.): also sea-coal, old name for "mineral coal" (as opposed to charcoal), mid-13c.; earlier, in Old English, it meant "jet," which chiefly was found washed ashore by the sea. The coal perhaps so called from resemblance to jet, or because it was first dug from beds exposed by wave erosion. From sea + coal. As it became the predominant type used, the prefix was dropped.
seafarer (n.): 1510s, from sea + agent noun from fare (n.). The Anglo-Saxon poem known by this name since at least 1842 was untitled in original MS.
seafaring (adj.): c. 1200, from sea + faring (see fare (v.)).
seafood (n.): "food obtained from the sea," 1836, American English, from sea + food.
seagull (n.): 1540s, from sea + gull (n.).