释义 |
etymology|ɛtɪˈmɒlədʒɪ| Forms: [4 with Latin termination ethimolegia], 5–6 ethi-, ethymologie, -y(e, (5 ethimilogie), 6–7 ætym-, etim-, etymologie, -y(e, 6– etymology. [a. OF. ethimologie, mod.F. etymologie, ad. L. etymologia, a. Gr. ἐτυµολογία, f. ἐτυµολόγ-ος: see etymologe.] 1. a. The process of tracing out and describing the elements of a word with their modifications of form and sense.
1588Fraunce Lawiers Log. i. xii. 51 Notation or Etymologie is the interpretation of the word. 1725Watts Logic i. iv. §1 This tracing of a word to its original, (which is called etymology), is sometimes a very precarious..thing. 1786H. Tooke Purley (1798) I. ix. 456 The explanation and etymology of those words..require a degree of knowledge in all the antient northern languages. ¶ With explanation drawn from the Gr. derivation. (Cf. L. veriloquium, by which Cicero renders the Gr. word.)
1613R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3), Etymologie, true expounding. 1681tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Voc., Etymology, the true exposition or interpretation of a thing. b. An instance of this process; an account of the formation and radical signification of a word.
1460J. Capgrave Chron. 34 As Ysider tellith in the third book of Ethimilogies. 1575Turberv. Falconrie 204 So that the etymologie of the name proceedeth all upon one cause. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. v. ii. 8 Neither let this Etymologie of Britaines seeme to be either harsh or absurd, seeing the very words sound alike, etc. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. v. i. (1675) 296 Critical Inquiries into Obsolete Rites, or Disputable Etymologies. 1755Johnson Pref. Dict. Wks. IX. 201 For the Teutonick etymologies, I am commonly indebted to Junius and Skinner. 1845Stoddart in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 166/1 A little investigation will show this etymology [of since] to be entirely erroneous. c. The facts relating to the formation or derivation (of a word). (In 16–17th c. occur confused expressions such as ‘the etymology comes from,’ ‘to derive the etymology from’.)
[1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. ii. (1495) 50 What is the menynge of the Ethimolegia and the settyng of this name?] 1447O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 46 Yf we them dewly kun applye And ordenelly aftyr the ethimologye. 1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 276 Dagon..as maie be iudged by the Etimologie of the word, was some God of the Sea. For Dag in Hebrue signifieth a fish. 1583Fulke Defence (1843) 267 The etymology of this English word ‘priest’ cometh from presbyter. 1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 683 Heralt..is meerely a Teutonic or Duytch word, and in that tongue and no other, the true ætymologie thereof is onely to be found. 1651Howell Venice 34 Som derive the Etimologie of this rare Cittie from Venetia, which is old Latin signifieth the frothing or seething of the Sea. 1666G. Harvey Morb. Angl. (J.), Consumption is generally taken for any universal diminution and colliquation of the body, which acceptation its etymology implies. 1725Watts Logic i. iv. §1 If the meaning of a word could be learned by its derivation or etymology, yet, etc. 1865Max Müller Chips (1880) II. xxv. 260 The etymology of a word can never give us its definition. transf.1864Kirk Chas. Bold I. ii. 48 Those distinctions of origin, habits, dialect, and history which constitute what may be termed the etymology of the nation. †d. Etymological sense, original meaning. Obs.
a1592Greene Jas. IV, i. ii, Ateu. What's thy name? Nano. Nano. Ateu. The etymology of which word is a dwarf. 1631R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlew. (1641) 332 This name [widowes]..hath received one constant Etymology; ‘deprived’ or ‘destitute’. 1711–14Addison Spect. (J.), Pelvis is used by comick writers for a looking-glass, by which means the etymology of the word is visible. 2. That branch of linguistic science which is concerned with determining the origin of words.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. vi. 93 Others have better observed the laws of Etymology, and deduced it from a word of the same language. 1797Godwin Enquirer i. vi. 44 The science of etymology has been earnestly recommended. 1862Marsh Eng. Lang. iii. 48 Etymology, is the study of the primitive, derivative, and figurative forms and meanings of words. 1864Max Müller Sc. Lang. Ser. ii. vi. (1868) 242 As long as etymology was carried on on such principles it could not claim the name of a science. 3. Gram. That part of grammar which treats of individual words, the parts of speech separately, their formation and inflexions.
1592West Symbol. §100 The rules of Grammar, touching eyther the ætymologie or Syntaxis thereof. 1612Brinsley Lud. Lit. ix. (1627) 127 For the Etymologie, all the difficulty is in these three parts of Speech, Nownes, Verbs, and Participles. 1669Milton Accedence Wks. (1847) 457/1 Etymology, or right wording, teacheth what belongs to every single word or part of speech. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. iii. 304 Etymology and Syntax, as Grammarians call them. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 60 The second part of grammar is etymology. |