- improvise
[improvise 词源字典] - improvise: [19] Etymologically, if you improvise something, it is because it has not been ‘provided’ for in advance. The word comes via French improviser from the Italian adjective improvviso ‘extempore’, a descendant of Latin imprōvīsus ‘unforeseen’. This in turn was formed from the negative prefix in- and the past participle of prōvīdere ‘foresee’ (source of English provide).
The earliest recorded use of the verb in English is by Benjamin Disraeli in Vivian Grey 1826: ‘He possessed also the singular faculty of being able to improvise quotations’. (The closely related improvident ‘not providing for the future’ [16] preserves even more closely the sense of its Latin original.)
=> provide[improvise etymology, improvise origin, 英语词源] - improvisation (n.)
- mid-15c., "unforeseen happening;" 1786 as "act of improvising musically," from French improvisation, from improviser "compose or say extemporaneously," from Italian improvvisare, from improvviso "unforeseen, unprepared," from Latin improvisus "not foreseen, unforeseen, unexpected," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + provisus "foreseen," also "provided," past participle of providere "foresee, provide" (see provide).
- improvise (v.)
- 1826, back-formation from improvisation, or else from French improviser (17c.), from Italian improvisare "to sing or speak extempore," from improviso, from Latin improvisus "unforeseen, unexpected" (see improvisation). Or possibly a back-formation from improvisation. Related: Improvised; improvising.
