英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

centre [centre 词源字典]: centre: [14] The word centre came originally from the spike of a pair of compasses which is stuck into a surface while the other arm describes a circle round it. Greek kéntron meant ‘sharp point’, or more specifically ‘goad for oxen’ (it was a derivative of the verb kentein ‘prick’), and hence was applied to a compass spike; and it was not long before this spread metaphorically to ‘mid-point of a circle’. The word reached English either via Old French centre or directly from Latin centrum. The derived adjective central is 16th-century.
=> eccentric[centre etymology, centre origin, 英语词源]
entrails: entrails: [13] Entrails means literally just ‘insides’ – and indeed there is an unbroken semantic undercurrent to the word from earliest times to the present day signifying exactly that (as in ‘entrails of the earth’). It comes ultimately from the Latin adjective interāneus ‘internal’, a derivative of the adverb and preposition inter ‘inside, among’. Its neuter plural form interānea came to be used as a noun, and at some point underwent a metamorphosis to medieval Latin intrālia ‘inner parts, intestines’. English acquired the word via Old French entrailles.
entrance: entrance: see enter
entrechat: entrechat: [18] An entrechat has no connection with cats, despite the passing resemblance to French chat. It comes from French, indeed, but there the original form was not entrechat but entrechas, a derivative of the verb entrechasser ‘chase in and out’, the notion being that the dancer’s feet cross, or ‘chase’, each other several times while she or he is in the air. The verb is a compound formed from entre ‘between’ and chasser ‘pursue’, a relative of English chase.
=> chase
entropy: entropy: [19] The term entropy was coined (as entropie) in 1865 by the German physicist Rudolph Clausius (1822–88), formulator of the second law of thermodynamics. It was he who developed the concept of entropy (a measure of the disorder of a system at atomic or molecular level), and he created the name for it (on the model of energy) from Greek en- ‘in’ and tropé ‘turning, transformation’ (source of English trophy and tropical). The first record of the English version of the word is from 1868.
=> trophy, tropical
entry: entry: see enter
sentry: sentry: [17] Sentry is probably short for the now obsolete centrinell ‘sentry’. This first appeared in the 16th century as a variant of sentinel [16], which came via French sentinelle from Italian sentinella. It is not altogether clear where the Italian noun came from, but it may well have been derived from the verb sentire ‘perceive, watch’, a descendant of Latin sentīre ‘feel’ (from which English gets sense, sentence, sentiment, etc).
=> sentinel
ventriloquist: ventriloquist: [17] A ventriloquist is etymologically a ‘stomach-speaker’. The word is an anglicization of late Latin ventriloquus, a compound formed from Latin venter ‘stomach’ (source also of English ventral [18] and ventricle [14]) and loquī ‘speak’ (source of English colloquial [18], elocution [15], eloquent [14], loquacious [17], etc).

The ultimate model for this was Greek eggastrímuthos ‘speaking in the stomach’. The term was originally a literal one; it referred to the supposed phenomenon of speaking from the stomach or abdomen, particularly as a sign of possession by an evil spirit. It was not used for the trick of throwing one’s voice until the end of the 18th century.
=> colloquial, elocution, eloquent, locution, loquatious, ventral, ventricle
androcentric (adj.): 1887, from andro- + -centric.
androcentricity (n.): 1907; see androcentric + -ity.
androcentrism (n.): 1915; see androcentric + -ism.
anthropocentric (adj.): "regarding man as the center," 1855, from anthropo- + -centric. Related: Anthropocentrically.
anthropocentrism (n.): 1897; see anthropocentric + -ism.
biocentric (adj.): also bio-centric, 1889, from bio- + -centric. Anti-biocentric attested from 1882.
-centric: word-forming element meaning "having a center (of a certain kind); centered on," from Latinized form of Greek kentrikos "pertaining to a center," from kentron (see center (n.)).
carpentry (n.): late 14c., carpentrie, from Old French carpenterie, charpenterie "carpentry" (Modern French charpenterie), from Latin carpentaria (fabrica) "carriage-maker's (workshop);" see carpenter.
central (adj.): 1640s, from French central or directly from Latin centralis "pertaining to a center," from centrum (see center (n.)). Centrally is attested perhaps as early as early 15c., which might imply a usage of central earlier than the attested date.

Slightly older is centric (1580s). As a U.S. colloquial noun for "central telephone exchange," first recorded 1889 (hence, "Hello, Central?"). Central processing unit attested from 1961. Central America is attested from 1826.
centrality (n.): 1640s; see central (adj.) + -ity.
centralization (n.): 1801, especially of administrative power, originally with reference to Napoleonic France and on model of French centralisation. See centralize + -ation.
centralize (v.): 1795, "to bring to a center;" 1800, "come to a center," from central + -ize, on model of French centraliser (1790). A word from the French Revolution. Related: Centralized; centralizing.
Government should have a central point throughout its whole periphery. The state of the monthly expences amounted to four hundred millions; but within these seven months, it is reduced to one hundred and eighty millions. Such is the effect of the centralization of government; and the more we centralize it, the more we shall find our expenses decrease. [Saint-Just, "Discourse on the State of the Finances"]
centre: chiefly British English spelling of center (q.v.); for ending, see -re.
centrifugal (adj.): 1690s, with adjectival suffix -al (1) + Modern Latin centrifugus, 1687, coined by Sir Isaac Newton (who wrote in Latin) in "Principia" (which is written in Latin), from Latin centri- alternative comb. form of centrum "center" (see center (n.)) + fugere "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)). Centrifugal force is Newton's vis centrifuga.
centrifuge (n.): 1887, "a centrifuge machine," originally a machine for separating cream from milk, from French centrifuge, from noun use of adjective meaning "centrifugal" (1801), from Modern Latin centrifugus (see centrifugal).
centriole (n.): 1896, from German centriol (1895), from Modern Latin centriolum, diminutive of centrum (see center (n.)).
centripetal (adj.): 1709, from Modern Latin, coined 1687 by Sir Isaac Newton (who wrote in Latin), from Latin centri- alternative comb. form of centrum "center" (see center (n.)) + petere "to make for, go to; seek, strive after" (see petition (n.)). Centripetal force is Newton's vim ... centripetam.
centrism (n.): 1935, from centre + -ism (also see centrist).
centrist (n.): 1872, from French centriste, from centre (see center (n.)). Originally in English with reference to French politics; general application to other political situations is from 1890.
Where M. St. Hilaire is seen to most advantage, however, is when quietly nursing one of that weak-kneed congregation who sit in the middle of the House, and call themselves "Centrists." A French Centrist is--exceptis eoccipiendis--a man who has never been able to make up his mind, nor is likely to. ["Men of the Third Republic," London, 1873]
centrosome (n.): 1889, from German centrosoma (1888), coined by German zoologist Theodor Boveri (1862-1915), from centro- (see center (n.)) + -some (3)).
componentry (n.): 1956, from component + -ry.
concentrate (v.): 1630s, "to bring or come to a common center," from concenter (1590s), from Italian concentrare, from Latin com- "together" (see com-) + centrum "center" (see center (n.)). Meaning "condense" is from 1680s. Sense of "mentally focus" is c. 1860. Related: Concentrated; concentrating.
concentrate (n.): 1883, from concentrate (v.).
concentration (n.): 1630s, "action of bringing to a center," noun of action from verb concentrate (v.). Meaning "a mass so collected" is from 1670s; "continuous focus of mental activity" is from 1846.
concentration camp (n.): 1901, "compound for noncombatants in a war zone" (see concentration); a term for a controversial idea in the second Boer War (1899-1902), and the term emerged with a bad odor.
The concentration camp now definitely taken its place side by side with Black Hole of Calcutta as one of those of horror at which humanity will never cease shudder. ["The Review of Reviews," London, March 1902]
It also was used 1902 in reference to then-current U.S. policies in the Philippines, and retroactively in reference to Spanish policies in Cuba during the insurrection there of 1896-98. The phrase was used in U.S. during the Spanish-American war, but in reference to designated rendezvous points for U.S. troops headed overseas. In reference to prisons for dissidents and minorities in Nazi Germany from 1934, in Soviet Russia from 1935.
concentric (adj.): c. 1400, from Middle French concentrique, from Medieval Latin concentricus, from com- "together" (see com-) + centrum "circle, center" (see center (n.)).
Coventry: city in Warwickshire, Old English Couentre (1043) "Cofa's tree," from Old English masc. personal name Cofa (genitive Cofan) + tree (n.). Probably a boundary marker or public assembly place.
decentralization (n.): 1839, from de- + centralization.
decentralize (v.): 1840 (implied in decentralized), probably a back-formation from decentralization. Related: Decentralizing.
eccentric (n.): early 15c., "eccentric circle or orbit," originally a term in Ptolemaic astronomy, "circle or orbit not having the Earth precisely at its center," from Middle French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective), from Greek ekkentros "out of the center" (as opposed to concentric), from ek "out" (see ex-) + kentron "center" (see center (n.)). Meaning "odd or whimsical person" is attested by 1817 (S.W. Ryley, "The Itinerant, or Memoirs of an Actor").
June 4 [1800].--Died in the streets in Newcastle, William Barron, an eccentric, well known for many years by the name of Billy Pea-pudding. [John Sykes, "Local Records, or Historical Register of Remarkable Events which have Occurred Exclusively in the Counties of Durham and Northumberland, Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and Berwick Upon Tweed," Newcastle, 1824]
eccentric (adj.): 1550s, from Middle French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective; see eccentric (n.)). Of persons, figurative sense of "odd, whimsical" first recorded 1620s. "Eccentric is applied to acts which are the effects of tastes, prejudices, judgments, etc., not merely different from those of ordinary people, but largely unaccountable and often irregular ..." [Century Dictionary].
eccentricity (n.): 1540s, of planetary orbits; 1650s, of persons (an instance of eccentricity); 1794, of persons (a quality of eccentricity); from eccentric (adj.) + -ity or from Modern Latin eccentricitatem, from eccentricus. Related: Eccentricities.
ecocentric (adj.): also eco-centric, by 1975, from eco- + -centric.
egocentric (adj.): 1890, from ego + -centric. Related: Egocentricity; egocentrism.
entrails (n.): "internal parts of animal bodies," c. 1300, from Old French entrailles (12c.), from Late Latin intralia "inward parts, intestines" (8c.), from altered form of Latin interanea, noun use of neuter plural of interaneus "internal, that which is within," from inter "between, among" (see inter-). Latin interanea yielded Late Latin intrania, hence Italian entrango, Spanish entrañas, Old French entraigne; the alternative form that led to the Modern English word evidently is from influence of the Latin neuter plural (collective) adjective suffix -alia (French -aille).
entrain (v.1): "to draw along," 1560s, a term in chemistry, from French entrainer (12c.), from en- "away" (see en- (1)) + trainer "to drag" (see train (n.)). Related: Entrained; entrainment.
entrain (v.2): "get on board a locomotive train," 1860s, from en- (1) "in, into" + train (n.). Related: Entrained.
entrammel (v.): "to entangle," 1590s, from en- (1) "in" + trammel (n.).
entrance (n.): 1520s, "act of entering," from Middle French entrance, from entrer (see enter). Sense of "door, gate" first recorded in English 1530s. Meaning "a coming of an actor upon the stage" is from c. 1600.
entrance (v.): "to throw into a trance," 1590s, from en- (1) "put in" + trance (n.). Meaning "to delight" also is 1590s. Related: Entranced; entrancing; entrancement.
entrant (n.): 1630s, "one who enters, a beginner" (of professions, etc.); from French entrant, present participle of entrer (see enter). From 1838 with reference to one who enters a contest. As an adjective from 1630s.
entrap (v.): "to catch, as in a trap," 1530s, intrappe, from Old French entraper "trap, catch in a trap;" see en- (1) + trap (n.). Related: Entrapped; entrapping.