- aplomb
[aplomb 词源字典] - aplomb: [18] Originally, aplomb meant literally ‘quality of being perpendicular’. It was borrowed from French, where it was a lexicalization of the phrase à plomb ‘according to the plumb line’ (plomb came from Latin plumbum ‘lead’, also the ultimate source of English plumb, plumber, plumbago, and plummet). The notion of ‘uprightness’ gave rise in the 19th century to the metaphorical sense ‘composure’.
=> plumb, plumber, plummet[aplomb etymology, aplomb origin, 英语词源] - ingenuous
- ingenuous: [16] Etymologically, ingenuous means ‘inborn’. English acquired it from Latin ingenuus, which was composed of the prefix inand the element *gen-, denoting ‘production, birth’. This was originally used for ‘born in a particular place, native, not foreign’, but it soon began to take on connotations of ‘freeborn, not a slave’, and hence ‘of noble birth’.
Metaphorical transference to qualities thought characteristic of the nobility – uprightness, candour, straightforwardness, etc – soon followed, and that was the word’s semantic slant when English acquired it. By the 17th century, however, it had started to slide towards ‘artlessness, innocence’ (a sense reflected in ingénue, borrowed from French in the 19th century).
=> gene, general, generate, genital, ingénue - honesty (n.)
- early 14c., "splendor, honor; elegance," later "honorable position; propriety of behavior, good manners; virginity, chastity" (late 14c.), from Old French honesté (Modern French honnêteté), from Latin honestatem (nominative honestas) "honor received from others; reputation, character;" figuratively "uprightness, probity, integrity, virtue," from honestus (see honest). Meaning "moral purity, uprightness, virtue, justness" is from c. 1400; in English, the word originally had more to do with honor than honest.
- justice (n.)
- mid-12c., "the exercise of authority in vindication of right by assigning reward or punishment;" also "quality of being fair and just," from Old French justice "justice, legal rights, jurisdiction" (11c.), from Latin iustitia "righteousness, equity," from iustus "upright, just" (see just (adj.)). The Old French word had widespread senses, including "uprightness, equity, vindication of right, court of justice, judge." The word began to be used in English c. 1200 as a title for a judicial officer. Meaning "right order, equity" is late 14c. Justice of the peace first attested early 14c. In the Mercian hymns, Latin iustitia is glossed by Old English rehtwisnisse. To do justice to (someone or something) "render fully and fairly showing due appreciation" is from 1670s.
- probity (n.)
- early 15c., from Middle French probité, from Latin probitatem (nominative probitas) "uprightness, honesty," from probus "worthy, good" (see prove).
- rectitude (n.)
- early 15c., "quality of being straight," from Middle French rectitude (14c.), from Late Latin rectitudinem (nominative rectitudo) "straightness, uprightness," from Latin rectus "straight" (see right (adj.1)). Sense of "upright in conduct or character" is from 1530s.
