英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

analysis [analysis 词源字典]: analysis: [16] The underlying etymological notion contained in analysis is of ‘undoing’ or ‘loosening’, so that the component parts are separated and revealed. The word comes ultimately from Greek análusis, a derivative of the compound verb analúein ‘undo’, which was formed from the prefix ana- ‘up, back’ and the verb lúein ‘loosen, free’ (related to English less, loose, lose, and loss).

It entered English via medieval Latin, and in the 17th century was anglicized to analyse: ‘The Analyse I gave of the contents of this Verse’, Daniel Rogers, Naaman the Syrian 1642. This did not last long, but it may have provided the impetus for the introduction of the verb analyse, which first appeared around 1600; its later development was supported by French analyser.
=> dialysis, less, loose, lose, loss[analysis etymology, analysis origin, 英语词源]
babel: babel: [14] According to Genesis 11: 1–9, the tower of Babel was built in Shinar by the descendants of Noah in an attempt to reach heaven. Angered at their presumption, God punished the builders by making them unable to understand each other’s speech: hence, according to legend, the various languages of the world. Hence, too, the metaphorical application of babel to a ‘confused medley of sounds’, which began in English in the 16th century.

The word has no etymological connection with ‘language’ or ‘noise’, however. The original Assyrian bāb-ilu meant ‘gate of god’, and this was borrowed into Hebrew as bābel (from which English acquired the word). The later Greek version is Babylon.
=> babylon
cane: cane: [14] Cane is a word of ancient ancestry. It can be traced back to Sumerian gin ‘reed’, and has come down to us via Assyrian kanū and Greek kánnā (a derivative of which, kánastron ‘wicker basket’, was the ultimate source of English canister [17]). Latin borrowed the word as canna, and broadened its meaning out from ‘reed, cane’ to ‘pipe’, which is the basis of English cannal, channel, cannon, and canyon. From Latin came Old French cane, source of the English word.
=> canal, canister, cannon, canyon, channel
damask: damask: [14] Originally, damask was ‘cloth from Damascus’ (which was known as Damaske in Middle English). This Syrian city was a notable centre for export to the West in the Middle Ages, and has provided English with the damson [14] (originally the damascene plum, or plum from Damascus) and the damask rose [16]. In addition, the term for the method of inlaying steel known as damascening [19], or earlier damaskining [16], comes via French and Italian from the name of Damascus (where such steel was once produced).
=> damson
wine: wine: [OE] Wine comes from Latin vīnum. This was borrowed into prehistoric Germanic as *wīnam, which subsequently evolved into German wein, Dutch wijn, Swedish and Danish vin, and English wine. It also gave French vin and Italian and Spanish vino, and was extensively acquired by other Indo-European languages, including Russian and Serbo-Croat vino, Polish wino, Lithuanian vynas, and Welsh gwin.

The Latin word itself came from an ancient Mediterranean source, possibly non- Indo-European, which also produced Greek oínos ‘wine’ (source of English oenology [19]), Albanian vēne ‘wine’, and Armenian gini ‘wine’. The same ancestral term also fed into the Semitic languages, giving Arabic wain, Hebrew yayin, and Assyrian īnn ‘wine’.

Latin vīnum additionally gave English vintage and vintner, and its derivative vīnea ‘vineyard, vine’ produced English vine [13].
=> oenology, vine, vintage, vintner
Aphrodite (n.): Greek goddess of love and beauty; by the ancients, her name was derived from Greek aphros "foam," from the story of her birth, but perhaps it is ultimately from Phoenician Ashtaroth (Assyrian Ishtar). In 17c. English, pronounced to rhyme with night, right, etc.
Aramaic: northern branch of Semitic language group, 1834, from biblical land of Aram, roughly corresponding to modern Syria; probably related to Hebrew and Aramaic rum "to be high," thus originally "highland." Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Assyrian empire and later for centuries was the official language of the Persian kingdom and the daily language of Israel at the time of Christ.
Assyria: Middle English, from Latin Assyria, from Greek Assyria, short for Assyria ge "the Assyrian land," from fem. of Assyrios "pertaining to Assyria," from Akkadian Ashshur, name of the chief city of the kingdom and also of a god, probably from Assyrian sar "prince." (See also Syria).
beaker (n.): "open large-mouthed vessel," mid-14c., from Old Norse bikarr or Middle Dutch beker "goblet," probably (with Old Saxon bikeri, Old High German behhari, German Becher) from Medieval Latin bicarium, which itself is probably a diminutive of Greek bikos "earthenware jug, wine jar" (said to be an oriental word, perhaps a borrowing from Syrian buqa "a two-handed vase or jug"). Form assimilated in English to beak.
cane (n.): late 14c., from Old French cane "reed, cane, spear" (13c., Modern French canne), from Latin canna "reed, cane," from Greek kanna, perhaps from Assyrian qanu "tube, reed" (compare Hebrew qaneh, Arabic qanah "reed"), from Sumerian gin "reed." But Tucker finds this borrowing "needless" and proposes a native Indo-European formation from a root meaning "to bind, bend." Sense of "walking stick" in English is 1580s.
carob (n.): 1540s, from French carobe, ultimately from Arabic kharrub "locust bean pod" (also in Persian as khirnub), perhaps from Assyrian kharubu or Aramaic kharubha "carob tree, carob," related to Hebrew harubh.
Cimmerian (adj.): late 16c., "pertaining to the Cimmerii," an ancient nomadic people who, according to Herodotus, inhabited the region around the Crimea, and who, according to Assyrian sources, overran Asia Minor 7c. B.C.E.; from Latin Cimmerius, from Greek Kimmerios. Homer described their land as a place of perpetual mist and darkness beyond the ocean, but whether he had in mind the same people Herodotus did, or any real place, is unclear.
damask (n.): late 14c., Damaske "cloth from Damascus," the Syrian city.
Hittite: c. 1600, "of or pertaining to an Indo-European people whose empire (c. 1900-700 B.C.E.) covered much of modern Turkey and Syria," from Hebrew Hitti "Hittite" (plural Hittim), from Hittite Hatti. The biblical use (Gen. xv:20, etc.) refers to Canaanite or Syrian tribes that probably were genuine scions of the Hittites. They were called khita or kheta in Egyptian.
Laodicean: "lukewarm in religion," 1560s, from Laodicea, Syrian city (modern Latakia) whose early Christians were chastised in the Bible for indifference to their religion [Rev. iii:14-16]. The city is said to be named for the 3c B.C.E. Syrian queen Laodice, wife of Antiochus II.
Maronite: 1510s, from Late Latin Maronita, from Maron, name of the founder. A sect of Syrian Christians (4c.), originally Monothelites, subsequently (1216) united with the Catholic Church.
rose (n.1): Old English rose, from Latin rosa (source of Italian and Spanish rosa, French rose; also source of Dutch roos, German Rose, Swedish ros, Serbo-Croatian ruža, Polish róża, Russian roza, Lithuanian rože, Hungarian rózsa, Irish ros, Welsh rhosyn, etc.), probably via Italian and Greek dialects from Greek rhodon "rose" (Aeolic wrodon), probably ultimately related to Iranian root *vrda-.

But Tucker writes: "The rose was a special growth of Macedonia & the Thracian region as well as of Persia, & the Lat. & Gk. names prob. came from a Thraco-Phrygian source." Aramaic warda is from Old Persian; the modern Persian cognate, via the usual sound changes, is gul, source of Turkish gül "rose." Klein proposes a PIE *wrdho- "thorn, bramble."

The form of the English word was influenced by the French. Used as a color name since 1520s. In English civil wars of 15c., the white rose was the badge of the House of York, the red of its rival Lancaster. In the figurative sense, bed of roses is from 1590s. (In 15c. to be (or dwell) in flowers meant "be prosperous, flourish.") To come up roses is attested from 1969; the image, though not the wording, from 1855. To come out smelling like a rose is from 1968. Rose of Sharon (Song of Sol. ii:1) is attested from 1610s and named for the fertile strip of coastal Palestine. The flower has not been identified; used in U.S. since 1847 of the Syrian hibiscus.
Saracen (n.): Old English, "an Arab" (in Greek and Roman translations), also, mid-13c., generally, "non-Christian, heathen, pagan," from Old French saracin, from Late Latin saracenus, from Greek sarakenos, usually said to be from Arabic sharquiyin, accusative plural of sharqiy "eastern," from sharq "east, sunrise," but this is not certain. In medieval times the name was associated with that of Biblical Sarah (q.v.).
Peple þat cleped hem self Saracenys, as þogh þey were i-come of Sarra [John of Trevisa, translation of Higdon's Polychronicon, 1387]
The name Greeks and Romans gave to the nomads of the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Specific sense of "Middle Eastern Muslim" is from the Crusades. From c. 1300 as an adjective. Related: Saracenic; and compare sarsen.
Seleucid: 1803, in reference to dynasty founded in Syria 312 B.C.E. by Seleucus Nicator, general of Alexander. It lasted until the Roman conquest 65 B.C.E. The Seleucidan Era, a local reckoning in the East (maintained by Syrian Christians) usually is dated to Sept. 1, 312 B.C.E.
Semite (n.): 1847, "a Jew, Arab, Assyrian, or Aramaean" (an apparently isolated use from 1797 refers to the Semitic language group), back-formation from Semitic or else from French Sémite (1845), from Modern Latin Semita, from Late Latin Sem "Shem," one of the three sons of Noah (Gen. x:21-30), regarded as the ancestor of the Semites (in old Bible-based anthropology), from Hebrew Shem. In modern sense said to have been first used by German historian August Schlözer in 1781.
Semitic (adj.): 1797, denoting the language group that includes Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian, etc.; 1826 as "of or pertaining to Semites," from Medieval Latin Semiticus (source of Spanish semitico, French semitique, German semitisch), from Semita (see Semite). As a noun, as the name of a linguistic family, from 1813. In non-linguistic use, perhaps directly from German semitisch. In recent use often with the specific sense "Jewish," but not historically so limited.
semolina (n.): meal from hard kernels of wheat, 1797, alteration of Italian semolino "grits; paste for soups," diminutive of semola "bran," from Latin simila "the finest flour," probably from the same Semitic source as Greek semidalis "the finest flour" (compare Assyrian samidu, Syrian semida "fine meal").
sesame (n.): early 15c., probably from Middle French sisame and directly from Latin sesamum (nominative sesama), from Greek sesamon (Doric sasamon) "seed or fruit of the sesame plant," a very early borrowing via Phoenician from Late Babylonian *shawash-shammu (compare Assyrian shamash-shammu "sesame," literally "oil-seed"). First as a magic password in 1785 translation of Galland's "Mille et une nuits," where it opens the door of the thieves' den in "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves." Phrase open sesame current since about 1826.
sorghum (n.): "Indian millet," 1590s, from Modern Latin Sorghum, the genus name, from Italian sorgo "a tall cereal grass," probably from Medieval Latin surgum, suricum (12c.), perhaps a variant of Latin syricum "Syrian," as in Syricum (gramen) "(grass) of Syria," from Syria, a possible source of the plant or its grain in ancient times.
sumac (n.): also sumach, c. 1300, "preparation of dried, chopped leaves of a plant of the genus Rhus" (used in tanning and dyeing and as an astringent), from Old French sumac (13c.), from Medieval Latin sumach, from Arabic summaq, from Syrian summaq "red." Of the tree itself from 1540s; later applied to a North American plant species.
Syria: from Latin Syria, from Greek Syria, from Syrioi "the Syrians," a name given originally to the Assyrians (Herodotus vii.63), a shortened form of Assyrioi "Assyrians" (see Assyria). Related: Syrian.
Syriac (adj.): c. 1600, from Latin syraicus, from Greek syraikos "Syrian, of or pertaining to Syria," (see Syria). As the name of an ancient Semitic language, from 1610s.
Tammuz (n.): Babylonian and Assyrian god (identified with Adon), according to Klein's sources probably from Babylonian Du'uzu, contraction of Dumu-zi "the son who rises," also interpeted as "the faithful son."
Thammuz (n.): 1530s, from Hebrew tammuz, tenth month of the Jewish civil year, fourth of the sacred, covering parts of June and July; also the name of a Syrian deity equivalent to Phoenician Adon, whose festival began with the new moon of this month (compare Tammuz).
Tripoli: both the Libyan capital and the Lebanese port city represent Greek tri- "three" (see tri-) + polis "town" (see polis). In Libya, Tripolis was the name of a Phoenician colony consisting of Oea (which grew into modern Tripoli), Leptis Magna, and Sabratha. Arabic distinguishes them as Tarabulus ash-sham ("Syrian Tripoli") and Tarabulus al-garb ("Western Tripoli").
ziggurat (n.): also zikkurat, 1858, from Assyrian ziqquratu "height, pinnacle," from zaqaru "to be high."
Jacobite (2): "A member of the Syrian Orthodox Church (Monophysite)", Early 15th century: from medieval Latin Jacobita, from the name of Jacobus Baradaeus, a 6th-century Syrian monk.