释义 |
bellonn./ˈbɛlən/ Origin: Of unknown origin Etymology: Origin unknown.A suggested connection with bell v.4 is unlikely on formal and semantic grounds. It has also been suggested that the word is a borrowing < Welsh belen , mutated form (following the definite article) of pelen (small) ball, cannonball (diminutive of pêl ball < classical Latin pila : see pill n.3). However, the only evidence for the Welsh word in this sense is found in an English context in the passage below and may reflect a folk etymology (especially as the passage appears to describe a different condition). The same author also reports significant movement of miners from England (including Derbyshire) into Wales at the time, which makes it more likely that the Welsh word is of English origin, if it is related at all:c1740 L. Morris in W. J. Lewis Lead Mining in Wales (1967) 283 Miners in some soft, dry works..are subject to a distemper in their breasts, which they feel like a heavy ball and therefore call it in Welsh Y Belen, i.e., The Ball. the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > pain in specific parts > [noun] > in back 1794 E. Darwin I. 424 In the bellon, or colica saturnina, the patients are said to bite their own flesh. 1819 A. Rees IV Bellon or Belland, a distemper very common in Derbyshire..where they smelt lead ore. This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2020). < n.1794 |