- observe
[observe 词源字典] - observe: [14] Latin observāre meant ‘watch, pay attention to, look to, comply with’. It was a compound verb, formed with the prefix ob- ‘to’ from servāre ‘keep safe’, hence ‘guard, watch, heed’ (no relation to servīre, source of English serve and servant). The two semantic strands ‘seeing, noting’ and ‘complying’ have remained together in the English verb, but have diverged in its derived nouns, the former going to observation [14], the latter to observance [13].
=> conserve, reserve[observe etymology, observe origin, 英语词源] - observe (v.)
- late 14c., "to hold to" (a manner of life or course of conduct), from Old French observer, osserver "to observe, watch over, follow" (10c.), from Latin observare "watch over, note, heed, look to, attend to, guard, regard, comply with," from ob "over" (see ob-) + servare "to watch, keep safe," from PIE root *ser- (1) "to protect." Meaning "to attend to in practice, to keep, follow" is attested from late 14c. Sense of "watch, perceive, notice" is 1560s, via notion of "see and note omens." Meaning "to say by way of remark" is from c. 1600. Related: Observed; observing.
