- plot
[plot 词源字典] - plot: [11] Two separate and unrelated words have come together to form modern English plot. The earlier was late Old English plot, a term of unknown origin which denoted ‘area of ground’ (as in a ‘plot of land’). This subsequently developed to ‘ground plan’ and ‘diagram’, which formed the basis of ‘set of events in a story’ (first recorded in the 17th century). The other ancestor was Old French complot ‘secret scheme’ (also of unknown origin), which was originally borrowed into English in the 16th century as complot, but soon lost its prefix com-, no doubt under the influence of the already existing noun plot.
[plot etymology, plot origin, 英语词源] - plot (v.)
- 1580s, "to lay plans for" (usually with evil intent); 1590s in the literal sense of "to make a map or diagram," from plot (n.). Related: Plotted; plotter; plotting.
- plot (n.)
- Old English plot "small piece of ground," of unknown origin. Sense of "ground plan," and thus "map, chart" is 1550s; that of "a secret, plan, scheme" is 1580s, probably by accidental similarity to complot, from Old French complot "combined plan," of unknown origin, perhaps a back-formation from compeloter "to roll into a ball," from pelote "ball." Meaning "set of events in a story" is from 1640s. Plot-line (n.) attested from 1957.
