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ORIGINS

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (Routledge; 6th edition (8th printing,
in all)—U.S.A.: Macmillan.)
A Dictionary of the Underworld, British and American (Routledge; 2nd edition, revised
and enlarged, 2nd impression—U.S.A.: Macmillan.)
Slang Today and Yesterday: a history and a study (Routledge; 4th printing,—U.S.A.:
Macmillan.)
A Dictionary of Clichés (Routledge; 7th printing—U.S.A.: Macmillan.)
Shakespeare’s Bawdy: A Study and a Glossary (Routledge; 3rd edition, 2nd
impression—U.S.A.: Dutton.)
A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Captain Francis Grose: his 3rd edition
(1796), edited, with a biographical essay and a running commentary, by Eric Partridge,
2nd edition (revised), 2nd impression. (Routledge—U.S.A., Barnes & Noble.)
Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English (Hamish Hamilton; 6th edition, revised,
enlarged, and brought up to date,—U.S.A.: (1) British Book Centre; (2) school edition,
Grosset & Dunlap.)
The Concise Usage and Abusage (Hamish Hamilton; 4th impression—U.S.A.:
Philosophical Library.)
Name This Child: a dictionary of Christian or given names (Hamish Hamilton; 5th
edition, 3rd impression—U.S.A.: British Book Centre.)
You Have a Point There: a guide to punctuation and its allies, with an Ameri-can chapter
by John W. Clark (Hamish Hamilton; 4th edition, 4th impression—U.S.A., British Book
Centre.)
What’s the Meaning?: mostly for young people (Hamish Hamilton; 5th im-pression—
U.S.A.: British Book Centre.)
English: A Course for Human Beings (Macdonald; 5th edition: in one volume, and
separately: Books I, II, III—U.S.A.: Macdonald.)

The ‘Shaggy Dog’ Story: its origin, development and nature, with many seemly
examples. Illustrated (Faber & Faber, 3rd impression—U.S.A.: Philosophical Library.)
Adventuring Among Words: a light-hearted essay on etymology. A volume in The
Language Library. (André Deutsch, 2nd edition—U.S.A.: Oxford University Press.)
Swift’s Polite Conversation, edited with an introduction, notes and, for the;  dialogues
themselves, a running commentary. (André Deutsch, 2nd impression—U.S.A.: Oxford
University Press.)
The Gentle Art of Lexicography: A Memoir (André Deutsch—U.S.A.: Macmillan,)
A Dictionary of Catch Phrases (Routledge; U.S.A.: Stein and Day.)

ORIGINS
A SHORT ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF
MODERN ENGLISH
by

ERIC PARTRIDGE

London and New York

First published in Great Britain in 1958
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
Second edition (with some corrections
and additions) 1959
Third edition (with corrections and additions) 1961
Fourth edition
(with numerous revisions and some substantial
additions) 1966
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection
of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© Eric Partridge 1958, 1959, 1961, 1966
No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the
publisher, except for the quotation of brief
passages in criticism
ISBN 0-203-42114-0 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-37182-8 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0 415 050 774 (Print Edition)

piam in memoriam

CECIL ARTHUR FRANKLIN

a kindly and generous man and a remarkable publisher

Philologists who chase
A panting syllable through time and space,
Start it at home, and hunt it in the dark,
To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah’s Ark.
Cowper, Retirement

FOREWORD
PROFESSOR W.W.SKEAT’S large and small etymological dictionaries were last
revised in 1910; Ernest Weekley’s Concise Etymological Dictionary and Ferdinand
Holthausen’s Etymologisches Wörterbuch der englischen Sprache, both excellent in their
way, treat words so briefly and ignore ramifications so wholeheartedly that it was easy to
plan a work entirely different—a remark that applies equally to Skeat’s Concise and, for
relationships, almost as much to his larger book.
‘Exigencies of space’—not always a myth, nor always a mere excuse for laziness—
preclude a large vocabulary. The number of entries in Origins is comparatively small,
even for an etymological dictionary, but the system I have devised has enabled me, with
the aid of cross-references, not only to cover a very much wider field than might have
seemed possible but also, and especially, to treat all important words much more
comprehensively and thoroughly. I have concentrated upon civilization rather than upon
science and technology; dialect and cant have teen ignored; slang is represented only by a
very few outstanding examples (e.g., phoney).
On the other hand, I have included a certain number of words not usually found in a
small British etymological dictionary: words that, little known in Britain, form part of the
common currency of Standard English as it is spoken and written in the United States of
America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India and Pakistan.
One class of words has deliberately been treated very meagrely: such exotics as do not
fall into the classification ‘Americanisms’—‘Australianisms’—etc. It does not much help
the searcher to be told that llama has been adopted—that is, accepted unchanged—from
Quechuan, or okapi from Bambulan (Mbuba); only a little more does it help him to learn
that cassowary has been adapted from Malayan kasuari. For Amerindian, Australian
aboriginal, Maori, Hindi and similar words, I have, wherever possible, avoided the
baldness and inadequacy of such entries as ‘kangaroo. Australian aboriginal word’ or
‘pakeha. Maori for a white man’.
In a book of this size a certain number of abbreviations is unavoidable. These
abbreviations will not impede the easy flow of the consecutive English I hold to be
indispensable in a book designed for the use of the general intelligent public as well as
for that of the erudite. Nor, I hope, will scholars and students find readability a defect;
after all, a work is not necessarily the more scholarly for being written in philological
shorthand. Where, however, the conventions of lexicography make for clarity and
simplicity, I have followed most of these conventions: and where either extremely brief
etymologies or multiple cognates and complex histories occur, I have employed a brevity
hardly less austere than compact. This combination of consecutiveness and terseness
should prevent the treatment from becoming too deadly monotonous.
Warmest thanks are due, both to Professor John W.Clark, of the University of
Minnesota, for help in choosing terms important in the United States of America, yet

little known in Britain and the British Dominions, and to Professor D.Winton Thomas for
occasional help in Semitic origins.
I shall be grateful for (private) notification, whether of printer’s and other errors or of
entries that ‘simply must be added’: non-specialist words that, falling within the 10,000or-so used by every intelligent person, have been inadvertently omitted from this
dictionary. Also, a few important affixes and elements have probably slipped through the
net.
ERIC PARTRIDGE
Postscript to the second edition. I have to thank Professors John W.Clark, Norman
Davis, Simeon Potter, for some valuable notifications and corrections.
Postscript to the third edition. I owe much to Professors John W.Clark, Norman Davis,
Simeon Potter and especially R.M.Wilson; and something to Mr R.W. Burchfield (by
salutary indirection)—Dr A.J.R.Green—Professor Mario Pei—Mr Stephen Potter—and
Mr T.Skaug of Oslo. All these gentlemen have been most generous: I can only hope that
the third edition approaches their ideals a little more closely than did the first: it leaves
me a shade less dissatisfied than I was.
Postscript to the fourth edition. In addition to several correspondents telling me of this
or that printers’ error, I have to thank especially Professor Ralph W.V. Elliott of the
University of Adelaide, for both corrections and suggestions; Professor Yoshio Terasawa
(of Tokyo City University), whose corrections largely duplicate Professor Elliott’s; also
Dr Nicola Cerri, Jr, of Maryland. It is difficult to thank at all adequately all the persons
concerned, but I can at least assure them that I am most grateful.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD
HOW TO USE THIS DICTIONARY
ABBREVIATIONS, INCLUDING THOSE FOR WORKS FREQUENTLY
MENTIONED

THE DICTIONARY
COMMENTARY

A LIST OF PREFIXES
A LIST OF SUFFIXES
A LIST OF LEARNED COMPOUND-FORMING ELEMENTS
ADDENDA TO DICTIONARY

ix
xiii
xv

1
3859

3867
3896
3964
4214

HOW TO USE THIS DICTIONARY
AN etymological dictionary supplies neither pronunciations nor definitions. Here,
pronunciation is indicated only where it affects the origin or the development of a word;
and definitions only where, in little-known words, they are necessary to an understanding
of the problem. Wherever the meaning of a word has notably changed, the sensetransformation is explained, as, for instance, in knave, marshal, phoney, adjectival rum:
here we enter the domain of semantics, the science of meanings, for semantics will
sometimes resolve an otherwise insoluble problem.
If the reader intends to use this book extensively and even if he intends merely to
consult it occasionally, he will spare himself much time and trouble if he previously
familiarizes himself with the list of abbreviations immediately preceding the dictionary
proper.
If he wishes to be in a position to understand words in their fullest implications and
subtleties, in their nuances and most delicate modifications, he will do well to study the
list of suffixes and then the little less important list of prefixes; lists that are themselves
etymological. By the way, the prefixes and suffixes are my own idea; the list of
compound-forming elements (this list, too, is etymological), that of an eminent and
humane, practical yet imaginative French philologist, the late M. Albert Dauzat. Like his,
my list is confined to learned elements: where he omits such elements as, in the fact, are
self-contained French words, I omit such elements as are English words recorded in the
dictionary itself. My list, however, is more than twice as long as his and, in treatment,
much more spacious, for Origins differs considerably from the Dictionnaire
étymologique de la langue française.
This list of compound-forming elements will enable inquirers to ascertain the
etymology of most of the innumerable learned words—scientific and technical,
philosophical and psychological, economic and sociological, linguistic and literary—
missing from the dictionary; these are specialist terms. Take, for example,
Calyptorhynchus, a genus of dark-coloured cockatoos; such a word has no right to appear
in an etymological dictionary and no privilege to appear in any ‘straight’ dictionary other
than one of the Universal Stores class. Yet the list of elements will reveal that the word is
compounded of calypto-, meaning ‘covered’, hence ‘hidden’, and -rhynchus, ‘beak’.
Having assimilated the table of abbreviations and the lists of Prefixes, Suffixes,
Elements, inquirers will find consultation easy and reading unimpeded. The crossreferences will present no difficulty, for if one word is to be sought at another, as for
instance erg at work, and if the latter entry be at all long, the long entry is divided into
numbered paragraphs.
‘See WORK’ would mean ‘See that word in the Dictionary’. If the dictionary contains
any such references as ‘See para-’—‘See -ace’—‘See calypto-’, the application is clearly
to para- in Prefixes, -ace in Suffixes, calypto- in Elements. If the reference happens to be

double, as in ‘See PSEUDO and pseudo-’, the application would be to the former in the
dictionary and to the latter in Elements.
All words belonging to alphabets other than ‘English’—to Greek, Russian, Egyptian,
for instance—have been transliterated. The transliteration of Greek words, in particular,
has been more exact than in several dictionaries one might, but does not, name. I have,
for χ, preferred kh to ch, and represented γγ as ng, γκ as nk, γξ as nx, γχ as nkh. In preMedieval Latin words I have retained i and u, as in Iulius, ML Julius, and uinum, ML
vinum, for reasons too obvious to be enumerated. Long Greek and Latin vowels have
been shown as long. I have, however, omitted that over the final -ī of Latin passives and
deponents.

ABBREVIATIONS1
(including those for the most frequently cited authorities)

A or Am

American (U.S.A.)

abbr

abbreviation of; abbreviated (to)

abl

ablative

acc

accusative (or objective) case

A.D.

Anno Domini, in the year of (our) Lord

adj

adjective, adjectival

adv

adverb, adverbial

AE

American English

Aer

Aeronautics, aeronautical

AF

Anglo-French

Afr

Afrikaans

AIr

Anglo-Irish

Akk

Akkadian

AL

Anglo-Latin (=Medieval Latin as used in Britain)

Alb

Albanian

Alg

Algonquin

Am

American

Amerind

American Indian

AmF

American French

An

Anatomy, anatomical

anl

analogous, analogously, analogy

app

apparently

approx

approximately

Ar

Arabic

Aram

Aramaic

1

Except for A.D. and B.C., and for e.g., f.a.e., i.e., 0.0.0., q.v. and s.f., the very modern practice of
using as few points (periods, full stops) as possible has been followed. In philology, OHG, MLG,
ONF, etc.—not O.H.G., etc.—have long been usual; I have merely extended the practice to, e.g., n
for noun.

Arch

Architecture, architectural

Arm

Armenian

AS

Anglo-Saxon

ASp

American Spanish

Ass

Assyrian

Astr

Astronomy, astronomical

aug

augmentative

Aus

Australia, Australian

Av

Avestic (or Zend)

B

British

Bab

Babylonian, Babylonish

Bact

Bacteriology, bacteriological

Baker

Sidney J.Baker, The Australian Language, 1945

B&W

O.Bloch and W.von Wartburg, Dictionnaire étymologique
de lad langue française, 2nd ed., 1950

B.C.

Before Christ

BE

British English

b/f

back-formation (from)

Bio

Biology, biological

Boisacq

Emile Boisacq, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue
grecque, 4th ed., 1950

Bot

Botany, botanical

Br

Breton

Bu

Bantu

Buck

Carl Darling Buck, A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in
the Principal European Languages, 1949

Byz Gr

Byzantine Greek

C

Celtic

c

circa, about (in dates)

C16, 17

16th (etc.) Century; CC16–17, 16th– 17th Centuries

CA

Central America(n)

Can

Canadian

Cat

Catalan

caus

causative

cf

confer, compare!

c/f

combining-form; pl: c/ff

c/f e

compound-forming element

Ch

Chinese

Chem

Chemistry, chemical

Clark

John W.Clark (private communication)

Class

Classical (Greek, Latin)

coll

colloquial, -ism, -ly

comb

combination, combiner

comp

comparative

cond

conditional (mood)

conj

conjunction, conjunctive

conjug

conjugation

conn

connotation

cons

consonant, consonantal

contr

contracted, contraction

Cor

Cornish

corresp

corresponding

cpd

compound

Craigie

Sir William Craigie, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish
Tongue, 1931–

Cz

Czechoslovak

D

Dutch

Da

Danish

DAE

A Dictionary of American English, edited by W.A.Craigie
and J.R. Hulbert, 1936–44

DAF

R.Grandsaignes d’Hauterive, Dictionnaire d’ancien
français, 1947

dat

dative

Dauzat

Albert Dauzat, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue
française, edition of 1947

dial

dialect, -al, -ally

Dict

(this) dictionary; dict (pl dictt), any dictionary

dim

diminutive

E

English

E&M

A.Ernout and A.Meillet, Dictionnaire étymologique de la
langue latine, 3rd ed., 1951

Eccl

Ecclesiastics, ecclesiastic(al)

ED

Early Modern Dutch

EDD

Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, 1896–
1905

EE

Early Modern English (1500–1700)

EF

Early Modern French (1500–1700)

Eg

Egyptian

EgAr

Egyptian Arabic

e.g.

exempli gratia, for example

EI

East Indian, East Indies

Ekwall

B.O.E.Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English
Place-Names, 4th ed., 1958

El

Electricity

Enci It

Enciclopedia Italiana

Eng

Engineering

Ent

Entomology, entomological

esp

especially

etc.

et cetera

etym

etymology, etymological(ly)

euphem

euphemism, euphemistically)

EW

Ernest Weekley, Concise Etymological Dictionary, 2nd
ed., 1952

Ex

example; Exx: examples

extn

extension

F

French

f

feminine

f.a.e.

for anterior etymology

f/e

folk-etymology or -etymological(ly)

Feist

Sigmund Feist, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen
Sprache, 3rd ed., 1939

fig

figurative(ly)

Fin

Finnish

Fl

Flemish

fl

flourished (lived)

foll

following

fpl

feminine plural

fre

frequentative

Fris

Frisian

fs

feminine singular

FU

Finno-Ugric

G

German

Ga

Gaelic

Gaul

Gaulish

gen

genitive (possessive case)

Geog

Geography, geographical

Geol

Geology, geological

Geom

Geometry, geometrical

Gmc

Germanic

Go

Gothic

Gr

Greek

Gram; gram

Grammar; grammatical

H

Hebrew

Ham

Hamitic

Hell

Hellenistic

Her

Heraldry, heraldic

HG

High German

Hi

Hindi

Hind

Hindustani

hist

historic(al)

Hit

Hittite

Hofmann

J.B.Hofmann, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des
Griechischen, 1950

Holthausen

Ferdinand Holthausen, Wörterbuch des
Altwestnordischen, 1948

Holthausen1

F.Holthausen, Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 1925

Holthausen2

F.Holthausen, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der englischen
Sprache, 3rd ed.

Hung or Hu

Hungarian

ibid

ibidem, in the same place

Ice

Icelandic

Ich

Ichthyology

id

idem, the same; identical

IE

Indo-European

i.e.

id est, that is

illit

illiterate, illiterately

imm

immediately

imp

imperative (mood)

impf

imperfect (tense)

inch

inchoative

incl

included, including, inclusion

ind

indicative (mood)

inf

infinitive (mood), infinitival

instr

instrument, instrumental

int

intensive, intensively

interj

interjection, interjective(ly)

Ir

Irish

irreg

irregular, irregularly

It

Italian

J or Jap

Japanese

Jav

Javanese

joc

jocular(ly)

Kluge

Kluge-Götze, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen
Sprache, 14th ed., 1948

L

Latin

L&S

Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, in H.Stuart
Jones’s recension, 1925–40

l.c.

locus citatus, the passage (or book) quoted

Lett

Lettish (Latvian)

LG

Low German

LGr

Late Greek

LH

Late Hebrew

lit

literal, literally

Lith

Lithuanian

LL

Late Latin (c A.D. 180–600)

loc

locative (case)

m

masculine

MacLennan

Malcolm MacLennan, A Dictionary of the Gaelic
Language, 1925

Mal

Malayan

Malvezin

Pierre Malvezin, Dictionnaire des racines celtiques, 2nd
ed., 1924

Malvezin1
MAr

P.Malvezin, Dictionnaire complétif du latin, 1925

Math

Mathematics, mathematical

Medieval Arabic

Mathews

Mitford M.Mathews, A Dictionary of Americanisms, 1951

MBr

Medieval Breton

MD

Medieval Dutch

mdfn

modification

ME

Middle English

Med

Medicine, medical

Medit

Mediterranean

Mencken

H.L.Mencken, The American Language, 4th ed., 1936;
Supplement One, 1945, and Two, 1948

Met

meteorology, -ological

MF

Medieval French (CC13–15)

MGr

Medieval Greek

MHG

Middle High German

Min

Mineralogy, mineralogical

MIr

Middle Irish

mispron:

mispronounced, mispronunciation

ML

Medieval Latin

MLG

Middle Low German

Mod, mod:

modern, as in Mod E, Modern English

Morris

E.E.Morris, Austral English, 1898

mpl

masculine plural

ms

masculine singular

MSc

Middle Scots

Mus

Music, musical

MW

Middle Welsh

Myth

Mythology, mythological

Mx

Manx

N

north, northern

n

noun

NA

North America, N American

naut

nautical

Nav

the (Royal) Navy, naval; navigation(al)

neg

negative, negatively

neu

neuter; neupl: neuter plural; neus: neuter singular

NL

New Latin, especially Modern Scientific Latin

nom

nominative (subjective case)

Nor

Norwegian

NT

(The) New Testament

NZ

New Zealand

O

Old

OB

Old Bulgarian (=Old Church Slavic)

OBr

Old Breton

obs

obsolete

obsol

obsolescent

OC

Old Celtic

occ

occasional, occasionally

OE

Old English

OED

The Oxford English Dictionary

OF

Old French

OFris

Old Frisian

OGmc

Old Germanic

OHG

Old High German

OIr

Old Irish

OIt

Old Italian (Middle Ages)

OL

Old Latin

OLG

Old Low German

ON

Old Norse

ONF

Old Northern French

o.o.o.

of obscure origin

OP

Old Prussian

OPer

Old Persian

opp

opposite (adj, n): opposed to

OProv

Old Provencal

orig

original, originally

OS

Old Saxon Orn Ornithology, ornithological

o/s

oblique stem

OSl

Old Slavic

OSp

Old Spanish

OSw

Old Swedish

OT

(The) Old Testament

OW

Old Welsh

P

Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional
English, 4th ed., 1950

P1

E.P., A Dictionary of the Underworld, 1950

P2

E.P., Name into Word, 2nd ed., 1950

P3

E.P., Here, There and Everywhere, 2nd ed., 1950

P4

E.P., From Sanskrit to Brazil, 1952

pa

participial adjective

Pal

Palaeography, palaeographical

para

paragraph

PC

Primitive Celtic

pej

pejorative, -ly

Per

Persian

pern

perhaps

Pettman:

C.Pettman, Africanderisms, 1913

PGmc

Primitive Germanic

PGr

Primitive Greek

Pharm

Pharmacy, pharmaceutical

Phil

Philosophy, philosophical

phon

phonetic, phonetically, phonetics

Phys

Physics

Physio

Physiology, physiologica

PL

Primitive Latin

pl

plural

PlN

place-name

PN

personal name

Pol

Polish

Poly

Polynesian

pop

popular (speech)

Port

Portuguese

pos

positive

pp

past participle

pps

past-participial stem

Prati

Angelico Prati, Vocabolario etimologico italiano, 1951

prec

preceding

prep

preposition(al)

pres inf

present infinitive

presp

present participle

presp o/s

present-participial oblique stem

prob

probable, probably

pron

pronounced (as), pronunciation

prop

properly, strictly

Prov

Provençal

Psy

Psychology, psychological

Psychi

Psychiatry, psychiatrical

pt

past tense (preterite)

q.v.

quod vide, which see! (Plural references: qq.v.)

R

Romance (language or languages)

r

root

redup

reduplication

ref

reference; in or with reference to

reg

regular(ly)

resp

respective, respectively

Rom

Romany

Ru

Russian

Rum

Rumanian

S

south, southern

s

stem

SAE

Standard American English

SAfr

South Africa, S. African

SAm

South America, S. American

Santamaria

F.J.Santamaria, Diccionario de Americanismos, 1942

Sc

Scots, Scottish

sc

scite, understand! or supply!

Scan

Scandinavian

Sci

Science, scientific

SciL

Scientific Latin

SE

Standard English

Sem

Semitic

sem

semantics, semantic(ally)

sep

separate, separately (treated)

s.f.

sub finem, near the end

sing

singular; in the singular

Skeat

W.W.Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English
Language, 4th ed., 1910

Skt

Sanskrit

Sl

Slavonic

sl

slang

Slov

Slovene

Sophocles

E.A.Sophocles, Greek Lexicon of the Roman and
Byzantine Periods (146 B.C.-A.D. 1100), ed. of 1893

Souter

A.Souter, A Glossary of Later Latin, 1949

Sp

Spanish

spec

specialized

subj

subjunctive

sup

superlative

Surg

surgery, surgical

Sw

Swedish

syn

synonym; synonymous

T

Technics, Technology; technical, technological;
technicality

taut

tautological(ly), tautology

tech

(a) technical (term)

Theo

Theology, theological

Tokh

Tokharian

Topo

Topography, topographical

Torp:

Alf Torp, Nynorsk Etymologisk Ordbok, 1919

trans

translated, translation

Tregear

Edward Tregear, The Maori-Polynesian Comparative
Dictionary, 1891

trld; trln

transliterated; transliteration

Tu

Turkish

ult

ultimate, ultimately

usu

usually

v

verb

var

variant

Ve

Vedic

vi

verb intransitive

viz

to wit

VL

Vulgar (or Low) Latin

vn

verbal noun

vr

verb reflexive

vt

verb transitive

W

Welsh

Walde

A.Walde and J.B.Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches
Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., 1938–56

Walshe

M.O’C.Walshe, A Concise German Etymological
Dictionary, 1952

Webster

Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1934;
impressions of 1945 and later

Whitehall

Harold Whitehall in Webster’s New World Dictionary,
College Edition, 1953

WI

West Indian, West Indies

Y&B

H.Yule and A.C.Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, revised by
W.Crooke, 1903

Zoo

Zoology, zoological

* before a word indicates a presumed word, or form of a word, or Sense
= equal(s); is, or are, equivalent to; equivalent to
+ (in compounds and blends) and
† died; e.g., ‘† 1792’—died in 1792

A
a
, indefinite article. See ONE.

aback
. See BACK.

abaft
. See AFT, para 2.

abandon
comes, in ME, from OF abandoner (whence abandonment, whence E abandonment),
itself from the n abandon, arising from the phrase (mettre or laisser) a bandon, in(to) the
power (of someone): a, Mod à, from L ad, to+bandon (cf Norman banon), power or
authority, from ban, a sovereign’s proclamation within his jurisdiction. Cf BAN.

abase

Origins

2

: late ME abeese, abasse: OF abaissier (F abaisser): a, to+baissier, to lower, from VL
*bassiāre, from bassus, low: cf the adj BASE. Abasement: prompted by F abaissement,
but from abase+suffix -ment.

abash
: ME abashen, earlier abaisshen, earliest abaissen: OF esbair, esbahir (F ébahir), to
astound: formed either of es, from L ex, out (of)+bah! (astonishment)+inf suffix -ir,
hence lit ‘to get a bah out of someone’, or, more prob, of es+baer (Mod bayer), to bay,
influenced by baīf, astounded (B & W): cf ‘to BAY’. Abashment: OF esbahissement,
from esbahir, influenced by abaissier (see ABASE). Cf ABEYANCE.

abate
; abatement. See BATE. (Cf debate, combat, rebate.) Cf the 2nd BAT, para 3.

abattoir
. See BATE. Cf the 2nd BAT, para 3.

abbé
, abbot, abbess; abbey, abbacy.
The descent is from Aramaic abbā, father, thus: post-Class Gr
indeclinable;
, abbas (gen abbados), ‘reverend father’, abbot:

(abba),

I. LL Abba, ‘God the Father’; LL abbās (gen abbātis), abbot: LL acc abbātem, OF abet,
abe, F abbé: LL o/s abbāt-, OE abbad, abbod—whence E abbot:
II. LL abbātissa (from abbāt-, o/s of LL abbās)—OF abaesse, abbesse—whence E
abbess:
III. ML abbātia (same origin), monastery, convent, headed by an abbot or an abbess,

A-Z

3

hence an abbot’s office or dignity—whence E abbacy; and, from the basic LL sense, OF
abaie, abeie (F abbaye), whence E abbey; the derivative ML adj abbātialis yields
abbatial.

abbreviate
. See ADDENDA TO DICTIONARY.

abdicate
, abdication. See DICT, para 8.

abdomen
; abdominal.
L abdōmen, o.o.o., peril derives from abdere (ab+dare), to put away, aside, at a
distance, hence to cover or hide. The basic sense of dare, to give, has been lost in the
cpds, which take on that of the IE r *dhe-, to place. Abdominal: abdomin-, o/s of
abdōmen+adj suffix -al. Cf the element abdomino-.

abduct
, abduction, abductor. See DUKE, para 6.

aberrant
, aberration. See ERR, para 2.

Origins

4

abet
, abettor. See BAIT.

abeyance
is an AF word deriving from MF-EF abeance, expectation, from MF-EF abeer: a (mod
à), to+baer, beer, to gape (at): cf ABASH and esp BAY, v. Basic idea: hope deferred,
pointless expectation.

abhor
, abhorrence, abhorrent. See HEARSE, para 7.

abide
. See BIDE, para 2.

ability
. See HABIT, para 5.

abject

A-Z

5

, abjection: f.a.e. JET.—Imm from L abiectus (ML abj-), pp of abi(i)cere, to throw
away, and from the derivative abiectio, o/s abiection- (ML abj-).

abjure
, abjurement or abjuration. Cf CONJURE, but see JURY, n, para 4.

ablation
, ablative. See the 1st TOLL, para 6.

ablaut
. See LOUD, para 3.

ablaze
: on, in+BLAZE,

able
; ability. See HABIT, para 5.

abluent

Origins

6

, ablution. See LAVA, para 9.

abnegate
, abnegation. See NEGATE, para 2.

abnormal
, abnormality. See NORM, para 3.

Abo
, abo. See ORIGIN, para 6.

aboard
. See BOARD.

abode
. See BIDE, para 3.

abolish

A-Z

7

, abolishment, abolition (-ism, -ist): 1st, via abolissant, pres p, or (nous) abolissons, we
abolish, from late MF-F abolir, to abolish—cf perish from F périr—from L abolēre, to
destroy, to abolish, perh ex abolescere, to perish (ab, away, (hence) not+alescere, to
nourish, cf ALIMENT); 2nd either=abolish+suffix -ment or, more prob, derives from F
abolissement; 3rd, abolition (whence abolitionism, abolitionist: cf the suffixes -ism, -ist):
adopted from late MF-F, which took it from abolitiōnem, the acc of L abolitiō, itself from
abolitus, pp of abolēre.

abominable
; abominate, abomination. See OMEN, para 2.

aboriginal
, aborigine. See ORIGIN, para 6.

abort
, abortion, abortive. See ORIGIN, para 4.

abound
. See UNDA, para 4.

about
: ME aboute, earlier abouten, earliest abuten: OE ābūtan, for onbūtan, on the outside of:
on+būtan, outside, itself contracting be, by+ūtan, outside, itself deriving from ūt, out: cf

Origins

8

therefore ON, BY, OUT. Adv from prep. Cf:

above
: ME above, earlier aboven: late OE abufan: a, on+bufan, above, itself contracting be,
by+ufan, above: cf therefore ON, BY, OVER. Prep very soon from adv. Cf. prec.

abracadabra
: o.o.o., it is explained either (in B & W) as the LL transcription of Gr
(abrasadabra, where c=s but was read as k), the whole being an elaboration of LL
(Church Fathers’) Abraxas, for Basilides the Gnostic’s
, Abrasax, the Lord of
Heaven—‘The numerical value of this figment is 365, the number of days in the
year’ (Sophocles)—found on amulets; or else (in Webster) as L abracadabra from Aram
abhadda kĕdābrah, ‘Disappear (O sickness) as this word’—abracadabra written as a
diagram resting finally on the initial a.

abrade
, abrasion, abrasive. See RASE, para 1.

abrasax
, abraxas. A charm, an amulet. See ABRACADABRA.

abreast

A-Z

9

. See BREAST.

abridge
, abridgement.
The latter comes from MF-EF abregement, from OF-MF abregier (F abréger), from
ML abbreviāre, from L abbreuiāre: ab-, either the assimilation (to b) of ad, to, or, more
prob, ab, from, in nuance ‘off’+breuiāre, to shorten, from breuis, short: cf BRIEF. OF
abregier yields ME abregen, whence ‘to abridge’.

abroad
. See BROAD.

abrogate
, abrogation, abrogator. See ROGATION, para 3.

abrupt
, abruption, abruptness. See RUPTURE, para 3.

abscess
: L abscessus, a departure, a gathering (esp of bad matter), an abscess. See CEDE.

Origins

10

abscissa
, abscind, abscission. See the 2nd SHED, para 4.

abscond
. See RECONDITE, para 1.

absence
; absent. See ESSE, para 5.

absinthe
(occ AE absinth): EF-F absinthe: reshaped from OF-EF absince: L absinthium: Gr
apsinthion, wormwood, from OPer. The v absinthiate, to treat or impregnate with
wormwood, comes from the LL pa absinthiātus, flavoured with wormwood.

absolute
, absolution, absolve. See LOSE, para 5.

absonant

A-Z

11

. See SONABLE, para 5.

absorb
; absorbent (absorbency); absorption; absorptive.
‘To absorb’ comes (perh via MF-F absorber) from L absorbēre: ab, away+sorbēre(s
sorb-), to suck in or up, akin to Gr rhophein (s rhoph-) to swallow—cf Ionic rhuphein; to
Lith
(s surb-), to suck, srėbti, to sip, lap up; to MIr srub, snout (esp a pig’s), and
Ga srubadh, to suck, and sruab, to drink with smacking lips.
Absorbent (whence, via suffix -cy, absorbency): absorbent-, o/s of L absorbens, presp
of absorbēre.
Absorption: absorption-, o/s of L obsorptiō, formed from absorpt-, the s of absorptus,
pp of absorbēre; absorpt- yields also absorptive (cf suffix -ive), as if from ML
*absorptivus.

abstain
, abstainer. See TENABLE, para 5.

abstemious
: L abstēmius: abs, var of ab, (away) from+the r (tem-) of tēmētum, potent liquor, perh
akin to Skt tāmyati (s tam-), he is dazed or dumbfounded.

abstention
; abstinence, abstinent. See TENABLE, para 5.

abstergent

Origins

12

, abstersion. See TERSE, para 2.

abstract
, abstraction, abstractive. See TRACT, para 10.

abstruse
. See THRUST, para 2.

absurd
, absurdity. See SURD, para 3.

abundance
, abundant. See UNDA, para 4.

abuse
, n and v; abusive. See USE, para 9.

abut

A-Z

13

, abutment, abuttal. See BUTT, to push or strike with the head.

abysm
, abysmal; abyss, abyssal.
Both adjj simply tack the suffix -al to the nn; abysm derives from OF-MF abisme (F
abîme), LL *abismus (by influence of suffix -ismus, cf. -ism), from LL abyssus (whence
E abyss), bottomless gulf or pit, itself from Gr abussos, bottomless: a-, not+bussos,
bottom or depth, akin to buthos, bottom (of the sea), itself prob akin to bathos, depth, and
bathus, deep, qq.v. at BATHOS.

acacia
: L acacia: Gr akakia, very prob from Egyptian, the name being orig applied to a thorny
Egyptian tree or shrub: cf Gr akakalis, the seed(s) of the Egyptian tamarisk, with
influence from the IE r ak-, sharp, (hence) thorny. (Boisacq.) Chem acacetin and
acacin=acacia+acetin (cf ACID) and acacia+Chem suffix -in.

Academe
, academy, academic(al), academician, academicism or academism.
The development is natural and easy: the Gr hero Akadēmos (L Acadēmus), orig
Hekadēmos, gave his name to Akadēmeia (orig a f adj), orig Hekadēmeia, that
gymnasium in a suburb of Athens where Plato taught, hence (akadēmeia) a place of
superior learning, the L form acadēmia yielding, via F académie, the E academy and the
now literary academe; the Gr adj Akadēmeikos, hence akadēmeikos, became L
acadēmicus, became alike F académique and E academic (adj, hence also n), with
elaboration academical (adj suffix -al). Academism=academy+-ism; academicism=
academic+-ism. Academician derives from F académicien, which=L acadēmic(us)+suffix
-ten (cf the suffix -ian).

acajou

Origins

14

. See CASHEW.

acanth
, acanthus, acanthine; acantha; cf the element acantho-.
Acanth anglicizes acanthus, the L trln (whence the adj acanthīnus, whence E
acanthine) of Gr akanthos, a herb with spiny flowers, itself from akantha, a thorn or
prickle (Webster): ? perhaps rather akantha from akanthos, lit ‘spine flower’: akē, a
point+anthos, a flower. Cf ACUTE.

acariform
; acaroid. See element acari-, acaro-.

acaulous
. See CAUL.

accede
, whence accedence (suffix -ence); access; accessary, from accessory; accessible;
accession: resp, L accēdere (supine accessum, s access-), to move towards, to approach,
ad, to+cēdere (s ced-), to move, cf CEDE; access, L accessus, from accedere; accessary,
an -ary (as in necessary) var of accessory (adj, hence n), itself from ML accessōrius,
from accessus; accessible, from LL accessibilis, approachable, from accedere—cf the
suffix -ible; accession, from accession-, o/s of L accessiō, an approach, from the pp
(accessus) of accedere.
Cf CONCEDE, PRECEDE, RECEDE; PROCEED, SUCCEED; ABSCESS.

A-Z

15

accelerate
, acceleration, accelerarive, accelerator; f.a.e.: CELERITY. Imm from L accelerātes,
pp of accelerāre, to cause to go faster; EF-F accélération and EF-F accélérateur, both
from EF-F accélérer (from L accelerāre); the 3rd term, anl from ‘to accelerate’.

accent
(n, hence v); accentor, accentual; accentuate, whence accentuator; accentuation.
The effective origin resides in L canere (s can-), to sing: cf CANTO. Resp, accent,
adopted from MF-F, from L accentus (ad, to+cantus, a singing, a song), from canere;
accentor, adopted from L (ad+cantor, a singer, from canere); accentual= accent+-ual (cf
the -ual of gradual in relation to arade); accentuate, ML accentuātus, pp of accentuāre,
from accentus; accentuation, adopted from EF-F, from accentuātiōn-, o/s of ML
accentuāteō, from accentuāre.

accept
, acceptable, acceptance, acceptant; acceptation—acception; acceptive, acceptor.
Here we have two groups: first, the derivatives, via F, from L acceptāre (s accept-), the
freq of accipere, to receive, whence, via the pp acceptus or its s accept-, the second
group, accipere (s accip-) being an ad- (to) cpd of capere (s cap-), to take: cf
CAPABILITY. Thus, I: accept, MF-F accepter, L acceptāre; acceptable, adopted from
OF-F, from LL acceptābilis, from acceptare—cf the suffix -able; acceptability, prob
direct from LL acceptābilitās (gen -itatis); acceptance, adopted from OF (accept-, s of
accepter+suffix -ance); acceptant, prob via F, from acceptant-, o/s of acceptans, presp of
acceptāre; acceptation, perh via MF-F, from LL acceptātiō, o/s acceptātiōn-. Group II:
acception, perh via late EF-F, from acceptiōn-, o/s of L acceptiō, an accepting,
acceptance, formed (abstract -iō, gen -iōnis) upon accept-, s of acceptus (as above),
whence also acceptor, adopted by E; acceptive (cf the suffix -ive), as if from ML
*acceptivus. Cf CAPABILITY, para 7.

Origins

16

access
, accessary, accessible, accession, accessory. See ACCEDE.

accidence
(obs), accidency; gram accidence; accident, adj and n; accidental; accidented.
L accidere (ad, to+cadere, to fall: cf CADENCE and CHANCE), to befall, to happen,
has presp accidens, o/s accident-, whence the rare adj accident, now usu accidental (MFF accidentel, from ML accidentālis); whence also the n accidentia, chance, a chance,
whence the obs syn E accidence and the extant accidency (cf suffix -cy). The gram
accidence stands for accidents, pi of accident, something that happens to a word, a
special sense of accident, a chance event, from the OF-F n accident, from the L presp (as
above). Accidented, uneven of surface, owes much to the syn F accidenté.
Cf CADENCE, para 7.

accidia, accidie; acedia.
The 2nd is the obs form (adopted from OF) of the 1st, itself from ML accidia, a faulty
shape—influenced by L accidere, to happen—of LL acēdia, trln of Gr akēdia, lit ‘a notcaring’ (privative a-, not+kēdos, care, anxiety); LL acēdia accounts for E acedia, apathy,
(eccl) sloth, Gr kēdos is akin to HATE, q.v.

acclaim
, acclamation, acclamatory. See CLAIM, para 4.

acclimate

A-Z

17

, acclimation, acclimatize, acclimatization. See CLIME, para 5.

acclinal
, acclinate. See CLIME, para 7.

acclivitous
, acclivity, acclivous. See CLIVUS, para 2.

accolade
: adopted from EF-F: It accollata (s accol-), itself from accollare (s accol-), to embrace:
from L ad, to+collum (r col-), neck: cf COLLAR.

accommodate
, accommodation. See MODAL, para 14.

accompany
; accompaniment, accompanist. See PANTRY, para 9.

accomplice

Origins

18

. See complice at PLY, para 21:

accomplish
, adj accomplished; accomplishment. See PLENARY, para 7.

accompt
: an old form of ACCOUNT.

accord
, n and v; accordable; accordance, accordancy; accordant; according; accordion.
All except the last come from OF acorder, from LL accordāre, ac- for ad, to 4- cord-,
the o/s of cor (gen cordis), heart: cf CORDIAL and HEART. Thus: the n accord, ME ac
(c)ord or acorde, from OF acord(e), from acorder, whence, via ME ac(c)orden, ‘to
accord’, whence the pa according-, whence the advv according, accordingly; accordant,
however, derives from ME acordant, adopted from the OF acordant, presp of acorder,
whence also both OF acordable (cf suffix -able), whence E accordable, and OF
acordance, whence E accordance, with var accordancy. The musical accordion consists
of It accord-, the s of accordare, to play in tune+the -ion of, e.g., clarion and melodion.

accost
. See COAST, para 3.

accouchement

A-Z

19

. See COUCH.

account
, n and v; accountable; accountancy; accountant; accounting. See the 2nd COUNT,
para 5.

accouter
(AE), accoutre; accouterment (AE), accoutrement. See SEW, para 6.

accredit
, accredited. See CREDENCE, para 7.

accrescence
, accretion, accrete. See CRESCENT, para 3.

accrual
, accrue. See CRESCENT, para 4.

accumbent

Origins

20

, accumbency. See HIVE, para 8.

accumulate
, accumulation, etc. See CUMULATE, para 2.

accuracy
, accurate. See CURE, para 3.

accursed
. See CURSE.

accuse
; accusable, accusal, accusant, accusation, accusative, accusatorial, accusatory. See
CAUSE, para 5.

accustom
. See CUSTOM.

ace

A-Z

21

, n hence v: ME as, OF-F as, L ās, a unit of the duodecimal system, hence a monetary
standard and, later, a copper coin: perh an Etruscan word. Semantically, what serves as a
standard is (or is regarded as) the best: hence the card-game sense: hence the sporting,
hence again the aeronautical sense.

acedia
. See ACCIDIA.

acerb
. See ACRID and cf ACUTE.

acescent
, acetate, acetic, acetylene. See ACID, 2nd para.

ache
, n and v: (to) ache derives from ME aken (cf the obs spelling ake) OE acan, o.o.o.—but
perh akin to Grakē (s ak-), a sharp point, and L acēre, to be sharp: cf ACUTE. Whitehall
postulates the IE etym *agos, fault, guilt, and adduces MD akel, shame, and LG äken, to
smart. But, ult, the two IE rr *ag- and *ak-, may have been id.

achieve
; achievement—heraldic hatchment.
The 3rd either corrupts the 2nd, influenced by F hachement, an ornament in heraldry,

Origins

22

or (EW) comes direct from F hachement, an inferior form of acesmement, from OF
acesmer, to adorn, itself o.o.o.; the 2nd derives from MF-F achèvement (cf the suffix ment), from OF-F achever, to bring to a head, to conclude: a (Mod a), to+chef, head: cf
CHIEF; and the 1st derives from ME acheven, from the OF-F achever.

acid
, adj hence n; acidic; acidific, acidify; acidity; acidulate, acidulous; acescence,
acescent; acetate; acetic, acetous; acetylene.
The adj acid comes, perh via EF-F, from L acidus (s acid-, r ac-: cf torrid from L
torrēre, s tor-); the derivative n acid yields the subsidiary adj acidic (cf the suffix -ic).
The derivative L n aciditās yields, perh via EF-F acidité, the E acidity (cf -ity). The dim
L adj acidulus accounts for acidulous, whence acidulate: acidul(ous)+the v suffix -ate.
Acidific, acidify: acid+ific and -fy; the latter has derivative acidification.
Acescence=acescent+-ce; acescent comes, perh via F, from L acescent-, o/s of
acescens, presp of acescere, to become or turn sour, the inch of acēre, to be sharp, hence
sour. Acetate comes from L acētum, vinegar, itself from acēre, akin to acer, sharp; and
acētum gives us the adjj acetic (acid) and acetose or acetous (cf -ose and -ous). In Chem,
both L acētum and E acetic possess numerous derivatives: here we need mention only
acetylene: acetyl (acet-+Chem -yl)+ Chem -ene (as in benzene). Cf the element aceti- or
aceto-.
F.a.e.: ACUTE.

acknowledge
, acknowledgement. See CAN, para 6.

acme
: Gr akmē, a point, the topmost point, the prime: IE r, ak-. Adj: acmic (for acmeïc). F.a.e.,
ACUTE, s.f.

A-Z

23

acne
: e: SciL perh from Gr akhnē, a particle, hence chaff: s akhn-, prob r akh-; cf Gr akhuron
(s akhur-, prob r akh-), straw.

acolyte
: ME acolyt, acolite: ML acolitus, earlier acolithus: LL acolūthus, acolyte: Gr
akolouthos (adj hence n), attendant: a-, with+keleuthos (r kel-), a path—cf L callis.

aconite
(plant, hence an extract), whence the adj aconitic (unless direct from Gr akonītikos) and
the Chem aconitine: L aconitum, Gr akonīton, o.o.o.—but perh suggested by akonīti, the
adv of the adj akonitos, without dust (a-, not+konis, dust), i.e. without the dust of the
arena, hence of combat or struggle (L & S; Hofmann): it affords cardiac relief.

acorn
: ME akern, OE aecern, var aecren, akin to ON akarn, forest-tree fruit, and Go akran,
fruit, itself prob from Go akrs, a field, akin to L ager, a field: f.a.e., see ACRE, the basic
meaning of acorn being ‘fruit (or produce) of the field’. The Mod E spelling is folketymological for oak (OE āc)+corn.

acoustic
, acoustics; catacoustics; dysacousia or -acousis.

Origins

24

The n acoustics derives from the adj acoustic, much as ethics from ethic: and acoustic
descends, perh via F acoustique, from Gr akoustikos, aural, from akouein (s akou-), to
hear, itself akin to HEAR. Catacoustics=cat-, for prefix cata+acoustics; dysacousia or acousis=dys-, bad(ly)+acousia, Sci L for Gr akousis (whence -acousis), a hearing.

acquaint; acquaintance.
The latter derives from ME aqueyntance, from OF-EF acointance, from OF-EF acointier,
from LL accognitāre: ac- for ad-, to+cognitus, known, from cognoscere, to know (a
person), itself =co-, with+gnoscere, the old form of noscere, to know: cf cognition and
quaint: f.a.e., CAN. OF-EF acointier becomes ME acointen, later aqueynten, becomes
‘to acquaint’.

acquest
. See QUERY, para 7, s.f.

acquiesce
; acquiescence, acquiescent. See QUIET, para 5.

acquire
, acquirement; acquisition, acquisitive. See QUERY, para 7.

acquit
; acquitment, acquittal, acquittance. See QUIET, para 6.

A-Z

25

acre
, whence collective acreage (suffix -age): ME aker, OE aecer, akin to ON akr (cf Da
ager)—OHG achar (cf G Acker)—OS akkar—Go akrs—all meaning ‘a field’; to L ager,
a field; Gr agros, a field; Skt ájras, a plain. IE r: *agr-. Basic sense, prob ‘pasture’ or
‘pasture land’—cf L agere, to lead or drive flocks or herds. Cf ACORN and PILGRIM.

acrid
, acridity; acrimonious, acrimony; acerb, acerbity.
Acridity (suffix -ity) derives from acrid, which app blends acr-, the o/s of L acer,
sharp, with acid-, the s of L acidus. Acrimonious comes from ML ācrimoniōsus, the adj
of L ācrimoniā, sharpness, bitterness, from acer; ācrimoniā yields acrimony perh via F
acrimonie. Acerbity goes, perh via MF-F acerbité, back to L acerbitās, bitterness, itself
from acerbus, bitter (whence OF-F acerbe, whence E acerb), a modification of acer,
itself from an IE r *ac- (ak-), a point, pointed, to be pointed—cf Gr akē, a point, and
akōn, a javelin. But, f.a.e., see ACUTE. (Cf ACID.)

acrobat
; acrophobia; acropolis; acrostic.
For acro-, from Gr akros, at the farthest point (usu upwards), see Elements. The cpds
have originated thus:
acrobat, via F acrobate (n), either from the Gr adj akrobatos, walking a-tiptoe, hence
walking aloft, from akrobatein, to walk a-tiptoe, or, more prob, from Gr akrobatēs, an
acrobat, from akrobatein, the element bat- deriving from bainein (s bain-), to walk; the
adj acrobatic comes from Gr akrobatikos;
acrophobia, a dread of high places: a SciL formation: cf PHOBIA;
acropolis, the citadel—lit ‘highest (part) of a city’, esp in Greece: cf POLICE, para 4;
adj, acropolitan;
acroscopic. Cf the element -scope;
acrostic: L acrostichis, Gr akrostikhis, lit ‘extreme line’, i.e. at the beginning or the
end of a verse-line (Gr stikhos, order, verse: cf the element -stick).

Origins

26

across
. See CROSS, n.

acrostic
. See ACROBAT, s.f., and, for 2nd element, the 3rd STY, para 2, s.f.

act
, n and v; acta; action; active, activate, activism, activity; actor, actress; actual,
actualism, actuality; actuary; actuate, actuation. Prefix-cpds: enact, enactive,
enactment, enactor, enactory; exact (adj and v), exacting, exaction, exactitude,
exactor; inaction, Inactive; react, reactance, reactant, reaction, reactionary,
reactive, reactor; redact, redaction, redactor; transact, transaction, transactional,
transactor. Cognate group: AGENT, q.v. also f.a.e.
I. Act and its simple derivatives:
act, n: perh via MF-F acte, from L actum, a thing done (pi acta, adopted by E for
‘proceedings, transactions’), orig the neu of actus, pp of agere, to (drive, hence) do, but
also partly from L actus (gen actūs), a doing, an action. The v act comes from the L pp
actus, but has been influenced by the n act.
action: via MF-F action from Lactiō, o/s action-, formed on actus, pp of agere+ the
suffix -io (o/s -ion-), whence E -ion; actionable comes from ML actionābilis, subject to
an action at law.
active: perh via active, the f of OF-F actif; from ML activus, L actiuus: pp s act-+-iuus
(cf the E suffix -ive). Subsidiaries: activity, prob via late MF-F activité, from ML
activitās; activate (whence activation, activator), from active+v suffix -ate;
activism=active+suffix -ism.
actor (cf MF-F acteur): L actor, one who does things, esp in a purposeful way: pp s
act-+agential suffix -or (cf E -or); whence, via *actoress, derives actress—perh
influenced by F actrice and even by the ML actrix (pars).
actual (whence actualism, actualist, actuality—perh influenced by LL actuāliter,
practically): ME from OF actuel, from LL actuālis, from actus, a doing, an act.
actuary, whence actuarial: L actuārius, shorthand writer, bank clerk, from the n actus,

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27

influenced by the pi n acta.
actuate: from ML actuātus, pp of actuāre, to put into action, from n actus; actuation,
from ML actuātiō, o/s actuātiōn-, from actuātus.
II. Prefix-cpds from L actum (or actus, n) or from E act, n and v:
enact, to make into act or law, to penorm legislatively: prefix en-+act; perh influenced
by the AL freq inactitare and the rural L inigere (pp inactus), to drive (stock); hence,
enactment (suffix -ment)—enaction, enactive, enactor, enactory.
exact, adj: L exactus, precise, orig the pp of exigere, (lit, to drive out) to enforce, to
demand, to complete; exactus yields the F exactitude (-itude), adopted by E. Cf:
exact, v: from L exactus, pp of exigere; derivative L exactiō, o/s exactiōn-, yields, perh
via OF, exaction; exactive, from LL exactiuus; exactor, from L; exacting (adj), from ‘to
exact’.
inaction: in-, not+E action; inactive (whence inactivity), prob in-+active, but perh from
ML inactivus, negligent.
react: prob re-, back, again+act, v, but cf the medieval schoolmen’s L reagere, pp
reactus, and, for reaction, their react iō, o/s reactiōn-; reactionary (adj hence n), from
reaction; as reactance=react+ suffix -ance, so reactant=react+-ant; reactive,
reactor=react+-ive, -or.
redact: L redactus, pp of redigere, to bring back, (hence) to reduce; redaction, from
LL redact iō, o/s redactiōn-; redactor=redact+-or.
transact: L transactus, pp of transigere, to drive across, (hence) to ‘put through’ or
achieve; derivative L transactiō, o/s transactiōn-, yields transaction, whence
transactiona ; transactor, adopted from L.
III. All the prec words, whether single or prefixed, come from the L pp s act- of agere,
to drive, to do; the ag-, complementaries—agent, reagent, etc.—will be found at
AGENT, q.v. also f.a.e.

acuity
. See ACUTE.

acumen; acuminate, acumination; acuminous.
Acumen, sharpness of mind, shrewdness, comes direct from L and represents acū-, the s
of acūere, to sharpen+the suffix -men; the derivative LL acūmināre, to sharpen, has pp
acūminātus, whence both ‘to acuminate’ and the adj acuminate, tapering to a point;
acuminous=acumin- (o/s of L acūmen) + adj suffix -ous. Cf ACUTE.

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28

acushla
, AIr for ‘darling’: Ir a, the voc O+Ir cuisle, vein, pulse (of the heart): cf AIr
cushlamochree (or -machree), for Ir cuisle mo chroidhe, vein of my heart; cf also the F
O, mon cœur! and the si heart throb (darling).

acute
—cute, cutie—acuteness; acuate—aculeate—acutate; acuity.
Acuteness merely adds the abstract -ness to acute (whence cute, whence the Am sl
cutie): acute comes from L acūtus, orig the pp of acūere, to sharpen. Akin to acūtus is L
acus, a needle, s acu-, whence acuate (pa -ate), sharp-pointed; the L dim acūleus has
subsidiary acūleātus, whence aculeate, possessing a sting or a sharp point. The LL
acūtāre, to sharpen, from acūtus, has pp acūtātus, whence acutate, slightly sharpened.
The ML acūitās (acū-+itās, cf E -ity), prob an avoidance of *acūtitās, becomes late MF-F
acuité and E acuity.
Cf ACANTH, ACID, ACME, ACRID, ACROBAT, ACUMEN. The IE r *ac-, *ak,
occurs not only in Gr akē, a point, in L acus and acūtus, in L acer, sharp, keen (edge,
mind), in L acidus and aciēs, a sharp edge, but also in Gr akis, a point, akōn, a javelin,
akaina, a point, a spur, and akanos, a thistle, and notably in Skt asanis, a cutting edge, a
sharp weapon, and ásris, edge, (sharp) corner; cf also Oscan akrid, sharply, keenly,
bitterly—and even L occa, a harrow, and ocris, a very uneven mountain, Umbrian ocar, a
mountain, Ir ochar, a wedge, and many OC words. Also akin are EAGER and EDGE; L
acer, thinly ‘disguised’ in eager, shows clearly in exacerbate.

adage
: adopted from F, from L adagium, app composed of ad, to+the r of aiō, I say—cf
prodigy. ‘Aiō representsan ancient *ag-yo’ (E & M).

Adam

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29

. The H Ādām usu has preceding article, ‘the adam’, which means either ‘the made (or,
created) one’, the man (cf Assyrian adamu, to make or produce), or ‘one of earth’, from
H adamah, earth—cf Genesis, ii, 7, ‘God formed man of the dust of the ground’. Adam’s
ale: the poor fellow had only water to drink. Adam’s apple: the forbidden fruit of the tree
of knowledge got stuck, they say, in his throat (EW).

adamant
, adamantine; diamond, diamantiferous, diamantine.
Adamant, adopted from OF, comes, via L adamas, o/s adamant-, from Gr adamas (gen
adamantos), the hardest metal: a-, not+ n from daman (s dam-), to tame: f.a.e., see
TAME. The adj adamantine goes, via EF-F adamantin and L adamantinus, back to Gr
adamantinos. Now, L adamas had, in ML—perh influenced by Gr diaphanēs,
transparent—the var diamas, o/s diamant-, which entered OF as diamant, which became
ME diamaunt, later diamaund, whence Mod diamond: L adamas, the hardest metal,
merges into ML diamas, the very hard diamond. Diamantiferous: F diamant+connective
-i-+ element -ferous (cf the element -fer). Diamantine: from F diamantin, f -ine.

adapt
, whence adaptable, adaption, adaptive, adaptor; adaptation.
Adapt: MF-F adapter: L adaptāre—ad, to+ aptāre, to fit, from aptus, fit, suitable: see
APT. Adaptation: adopted from EF-F, from ML adaptātiō. o/s adaptātiōn-; adaptat-, s of
adaptātus (pp of adaptāre)+-iō, abstract suffix.

add
; addend, addendum (pl addenda); addition (whence additional)—additament—
additive.
Add comes from L addere (s add-), which, combining ad, to+dare, to place, to give
(dō, I place, I give), means ‘to place beside’, hence ‘to add’. The L vn addendum, thing to
be added, is anglicized in the Math addend. Addit-, the s of additus, pp of addere,
accounts for (1) additio, o/s addition-, whence, via MF, the E addition; (2)
additāmentum, whence E additament; (3) additīuus, ML additivus, whence E additive.

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30

adder
, snake, derives from ME addre, from a naddre apprehended as an addre; ME naddre or
neddere derives from OE
, akin to the syn OS nādra, OHG nātara, Go nadrs, ON
nathr—to OIr nathir, adder, snake—and (perh the origin of nathir) L natrix, water snake,
the sense perh influenced by L natāre, to swim. (For the formative process, see ‘Articled
Nouns’ in P4.)

addict
; addiction. See DICT, para 7.

addition
, additament, additional, additive. See ADD.

addle
, v, derives from the adj addle, empty, confused, muddled, itself from the now dial n
addle, (liquid) filth, OE adela, akin to OSw -adel, urine, and MLG adele, liquid manure.

address
. See REX, para 9.

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31

adduce
, whence adducible; adduction. See DUKE, para 6.

adenoids; adenoid, adenoidal.
Adenoids is strictly the pl of n adenoid (whence adenoidal: adj suffix -al), itself from adj
adenoid, Gr adenoeidēs, glandular: adēn, a gland: cf the element -aden and the suffix oid.

adept
, n hence adj; whence adeptness.
The n adept comes from L adeptus (artem), one ‘that has attained to (an art)’, pp of
adipisci, to attain to: ad, to+apisci, to obtain, from apere, to tie, pp aptus: cf therefore
APT.

adequacy
, adequate. See EQUAL, para 7.

adhere
; adherence, adherent; adhesion, adhesive.
Adhere comes, prob through MF-F adhérer, from L adhaerēre (s adhaer-), to be
attached (to): ad, to+haerēre, to be attached, remain fixed: f.a.e., HESITATE; cf
COHERE and INHERE. The presp adhaerens, o/s adhaerent-, yields, prob via MF-F

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32

adhérent, the E adherent; derivative ML adhaerentia yields, prob via MF-F adhérence,
the E adherence. The s adhaes- of pp adhaesus leads to adhaesiō, o/s adhaesiōn-,
whence, perh via late MF-F adhésion, E adhesion; adhesive arises in F adhésif, f
adhésive: adhésion+-if, f -ive.

adhibit
, adhibition. See HABIT, para 11.

adieu
: OF adieu, for a Dieu, in full je vous recommande a (F à) Dieu, I commend you to God,
spoken to a departing guest or traveller; OF a Dieu—LL ad Deum. Cf DEITY.

adipose
, whence adiposity (suffix -ity). See the element adipo-.

adjacence
or adjacency, adjacent: ML adjacentia, from ML adjacent- (whence E adjacent), L
adjacent-, o/s of adiacens, presp of adiacēre, to lie (iacēre) towards or by (ad, to,
towards); iacēre, lit ‘to be in the state of some person or thing cast or thrown (down)’,
derives from iacěre, to cast or throw. (E & M.) For iacěre, c/f -icere, cf the -ject of
abject, deject, inject, object, project, reject, subject, and:

adjective

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33

: ML adjectīvum (LL adiectīuum), elliptical for adjectivum verbum, added word (cf the
Gr
, q.v. at EPITHET); neu of ML adjectīvus, L adiectīuus, tending to add or
increase, from adicere, to cast (-icere) towards (ad) or beside, (often merely) to add. Cf
prec; f.a.e., see JET.

adjoin
, whence the pa adjoining; adjunct (adj hence n), adjunction, adjunctive. See JOIN,
resp para 17 and para 14.

adjourn
; adjournment. See DIANA, para 11.

adjudge
; adjudicate, adjudication, adjudicator. See DICT, para 18.

adjunct
, adjunction. See JOIN, para 14.

adjure
; adjuration, adjuratory. See JURY, n, para 4.

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34

adjust
; adjustment. See JURY, n, para 7.

adjutant
, adjutancy.
The latter is for adjutantcy (suffix -cy): and adjutant comes from adjutant-, the o/s of
ML adjutans, L adiutans, presp of adiutāre, freq of adiuuāre(ad+ iuuāre, to help): cf
AID. The adjutant (bird, crane, stork) stands about like an adjutant.

administer
; administrate, administration, etc. See MINOR, para 13.

admirable
. See MIRACLE, para 4.

admiral
, Admiralty; amir, emir.
Emir is an E var of amir (or ameer), from Ar amīr, a commander, as in amīr-al-bahr,
commander of the sea, an admiral: the frequency of amir-al in various combinations
explains the EF-F amiral, MF amirail, OF amiralt, the d of the MF-EF var admiral
intruding from admirable; ME adopted both forms, the -d- form prevailing; ME amiral,
however, here derives from ML amirālis. The MF amiralte (F amirauté) leads to E

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35

Admiralty.

admire
, hence admirer; admiration, admirative. See MIRACLE, para 4.

admissible
, admission, admissive; admit, whence admittance (suffix -ance). See MISSION, para
7.

admix
, admixture. See MIX, para 9.

admonish
, hence admonishment (suffix -ment);

admonition
, admonitor, admonitory. See MIND, para 18.

adnate

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36

. See NATIVE, para 9.

ado
. See DO, para 2, s.f.

adobe
: adopted from Sp, from adobar, to plaster, from ML adobāre, to adorn, the a- being prob
L ad, used intensively, and dobāre being prob akin to MF-F dauber, to plaster. See
DAUB.

adolescence
; adolescent. See OLD, para 5.

Adonis
: Gr Adōnis (deriving from Phoenician adōn, lord, and prob akin to Babylonian Tammūz),
an exceedingly handsome youth, beloved of Aphrodite.

adopt
, adoption, adoptive: resp from MF-F adopter, L adoptāre (s adopt-)—ad, to+optāre, to
choose: cf OPT; perh via MF-F, from L adoptiō, o/s adoptiōn-; perh via OF-F adoptif, f
adoptive, from ML adoptīvus, L adoptīuus.

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37

adore
, whence adorer; adorable, adoration. See ORATION, para 5.

adorn
; adornment. See ORDER, para 9.

adrift
. See DRIVE, para 1, s.f.

adroit
. See REX, para 7.

adscititious
. See SCIENCE, para 4.

adscript
, adscription. See SCRIBE, para 9.

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38

adsignification
. See SIGN, para 11.

adsum
. See ESSE, para 6.

adulate
, adulation, adulator, adulatory: L adūlātus (s adūlāt-), pp of adūlāri, to flatter, orig of
a dog wagging its tail (cf Skt vāla, tail) as it approaches; adulation, perh via OF-MF
adulacion (MF-F adulation), from L adūlātiō, o/s adūlātion-; adulator, adopted—cf the
MF-F adulateur—from LL adūlatory; adulatory, L adūlātōrius—cf the adj suffix -ory.

adult
. See OLD, para 5. Cf ADOLESCENT.

adulterate
, adulterant; adulteration, adulterator; adulterine; adulterer, adulteress, adulterous,
adultery.
The L adulterāre (for *adalterāre: ad, to+v from alter, other; hence, different), to
alter, (hence) to corrupt, (hence) to seduce a woman, (hence) to commit adultery, has
presp adulterans-, o/s adulterant-, whence the adj and n adulterant, and pp adulterātus,
whence the E adj and v adulterate; the derivative adulterātiō, o/s adulterātiōn-, yields

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39

adulteration; the equally derivative adulterātor, a counterfeiter, has been form-adopted,
sense-adapted into E.
Adulterine (-ine, adj suffix), L adulterīnus, prob from adulter-, the s of adulterāre,
rather than from L adulter, an adulterer, itself from adult-, the r of adulterāre; but E
adulterer derives, by suffix -er, from the obs E adulter, to corrupt (a woman), to commit
adultery, and adulteress, by suffix -ess, from the obs E adulter, an adulterer. Adultery:
from L adulterium (adulterāre+suffix -ium); adulterous: prob from adultery+suffix -ous,
but perh from the obs E n adulter+-ous.
Cf ALTER.

adumbrant
, adumbrate, adumbration, adumbrative. See UMBRA, para 6.

advance
, advancement. See the 1st VAN, para 3.

advantage
(n and v), advantageous; disadvantage, disadvantageous.
1. With intrusive d as in ADVANCE, the n advantage comes, via ME avantage,
avauntage, from OF-F avantage, which= the suffix -age attached to avant, before, from L
ab ante; the v advantage comes from MF-F avantager (from the n). Advantageous: late
MF-F avantageux, f avantageuse. Cf the 1st VAN, para 2.
2. Disadvantage: ME disavauntage: MF desavantage (EF-F dés), whence both the EFF v désavantager, whence ‘to disadvantage’, and the EF-F adj désavantageux, f
désavantageuse, whence E disadvantageous.

advection

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40

, advectitious. See VIA, para 12.

advene
, advenience; advent, adventitious. See VENUE, para 3.

adventure
, adventurous. See VENUE, para 4. adverb, adverbial. See VERB, para 7.

adversary
, adversative; adverse, adversity; advert—advertise, advertisement. See VERSE,
para 15.

advice
; advise, advisable, advisement, adviser, advisory. See VIDE, para 13.

advocate
, whence advocacy; advocation. See VOCABLE, para 10.

advowson

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41

. See VOCABLE, para 10.

advolution
. See VOLUBLE, para 4.

adze
: ME adese, adse, adsse, adis, an adze: OE adesa, an axe or a hatchet: perh akin to AXE
(OE ocas, aex, eax)—cf the extremely relevant Go aqizi, an axe,

aegis
: L: Gr aigis, shield of Zeus: perh from Gr aix (gen aigos), a goat, many primitive shields
being goatskin-covered.

aeon
. See AGE, para 5.

aer
, aerate, aerial. See AIR.

aerobatics

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42

; aeronaut. See the element aero-. For aeroplane, see PLANE, para 3.

aery
, n. See EYRIE.

aesthete
, aesthetic, aesthetics; anaesthesia, anaesthetic, anaesthetist: AE spellings esthete, etc.
1. Aesthete, from Gr aisthētēs, a (keen) perceiver; aesthetic, Gr aisthētikos, sensory,
sensitive; hence aesthetics—cf ethics and adj ethic. The Gr words derive from
aisthanomai, I perceive, aorist inf aisthesthai, akin to Gr aiō, L audio, I hear.
2. Anaesthesia: Gr anaisthēsia, lack of feeling—an-, not+a c/f var of aisthēsis, feeling;
anaesthetic (adj, hence n), an -ic elaboration from Gr anaisthētos, devoid of feeling;
anaesthetist, one who administers, and anaesthetize, to administer, an anaesthetic,
represent anaesthetic+suffixes -ist and -ize.

aestival
. See the element estivo-.

afar
. See FAR.

affable
, affability. See FABLE, para 3.

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43

affair
: ME affere, earlier afere: OF-MF afaire (MF-F affaire), from a (F à, L ad), to+faire, to
do, from L facere: cf ADO and, for faire, FACT. Cf also:

affect
, n and v (whence the adj affected); affectation; affective;—affection, affectionate.
The effective origin of all these words is L afficere, to do to, set oneself to: ad, to+ficere, c/f of facere, to do, make: cf FACT. Afficere has pp affectus (s affect-), whence
(as, e.g., of a disease) affect, to attack. From that pp s affect- derive: the freq affectāre, to
aim at, whence late MF-F affecter and, perh independently, E ‘to affect’—the n affect,
however, comes from L affectus (gen -tus), a disposition, from the pp s affect- (from
afficere); affectātiō (imm from affectāre), o/s affectātiōn-, whence F, hence E affectation;
affectiō, o/s affectiōn-, whence OF-F, hence E, affection—cf affectionate, an -ate (adj)
derivative from F affectionné, pp of affectionner, from F affection. But affective (suffix ive) derives from late MF-F affectif, f affective, of, by, for affect, from ML affectīvus;
hence the Psy affectivity (suffix -ity).

affiance
. See FAITH, para 10.

affidavit
. See FAITH, para 9.

affiliate

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44

, affiliation. See FILIAL, para 1.

affinity
. See FINAL, para 7.

affirm
; affirmance, affirmation, affirmative, affirmatory. See FIRM, para 4.

affix
, affixation. See FIX, para 3.

afflatus
. See FLATUS, para 3.

afflict; affliction, afflictive.
Prob, like the obs adj afflict, afflicted, ‘to afflict’ comes from L afflictus, pp of affligere,
to deject: ad, to -fligere, to strike: cf CONFLICT, INFLICT—and PROFLIGATE. The L
pps afflict- yields both afflictiō, o/s afflictiōn-, whence, via F, affliction, and ML
afflictivus, whence, prob via MF-F afflictif, f afflictive, the E afflictive (-ive).

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45

affluence
, affluent, afflux. See FLUENT, para 5.

afford
: ME aforthen: OE geforthian, int of forthian (s forth-), to further, (hence) to accomplish,
to afford: f.a.e., FORTH.

afforest
, afforestation. See FOREST.

affray
, n and v—fray (n); afraid.
The n fray, combat, is short for affray; the obs v fray derives from the short n. Affray,
fight, tumult, ME af(f)rai, comes from OF esfrei (F effroi), from esfreer, to disquiet, to
frighten, (lit) to put out of (OF es, from L ex) peace (Gmc root for ‘peace’—cf OHG
fridu, peace); OF esfreer, effreer, yields ME af(f)raien, whence E ‘to affray’; the ME pp
tf(f)rayed, later affraide, frightened, has become E afraid.

affright
. See FRIGHT.

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46

affront
, n and v. See FRONT, para 5.

afoot
. See FOOT, para 2.

afore
: ME afore, earlier aforn: OE on oran, aetforan, in or at the front. Cf FORE.

afraid
. See AFFRAY, s.f.

afresh
. See FRESH, para 2.

Africa
; African, adj hence n; Afric; Afrikaans.
L Afer, gen Afri, African, has derivatives africus, f africa, as in terra africa, land of the

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47

Africans, whence Africa; Africānus (imm from Africa), whence African; africus, whence
the archaic Afric, African or an African, or even Africa. Afrikaans is SAfr D, from D
Afrikaan: cf D Afrikaner, whence, after Hollander and prob Englander, comes
Afrikander, a born white South African of either (and esp) D or Huguenot origin.
But Afer may derive from L Africa, Gr Aphriké, both from a Phoenician name for ‘land
of Carthage’; the name extended only after a millennium to the entire continent.

aft
—abaft; after, adv, hence adv and prep.
1. Aft: OE aeftan, behind—cf Go afta, properly aftra, behind, and aftana, from behind,
both advv, and OS (at)aftan; IE r, *aft-. an elaboration of *af-; var *ap, as in ON (merely
scribal) and Hit.
2. Abaft: a-, on+ME baft, itself from OE beaeftan—be, by+aeftan (as above).
3. Prob akin to aft is the adv after. OE aefter, after, behind, akin to Go aftaro, from
behind, behind, backwards, OHG aftara and ON aptra, behind—and, more remotely, Gr
apōtero, farther off. The suffix -ter, in E also -ther, was orig comp: after is the comp of
of, off (see OF). The prep after derives from the adv; the adj after, OE aeftera, from OE
aefter.
4. Two simple derivatives merit a note: aftermost (opp foremost), ME aftermest, earlier
eftemest, from OE aeftemest—cf Go aftumist, the last, aeftemest being orig the sup of of,
off (cf OF); and afterward, OE aefterweard, aeftanweard, (adj) behind, the form
afterwards being orig the gen aefterweardes.
5. The cpds are mostly self-explanatory. Thus: afterbirth, afterglow, afterlife,
afternoon, afterthought. Aftermath=after+math, a mowing, OE
: cf MOW (grass).

aftermath
. See AFT, para 5, and cf MOW, para 2.

afterward
, afterwards. See AFT, para 4; cf the suffix -ward.

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48

again; against;—gainsay.
Gainsay: ME geinseien (or ageinseien), to say (cf SAY) against, to contradict: gain-, ME
gein-, derives from OE gegn- or gēan-, again, against, akin to ON gagn-. Against: ME
agens, ageynes: OE ongegn, ongēanes, the -s being-a gen ending (OE -es) and the t, as in
amidst and whilst, intrusive. Ongēanes is the gen of ongēan, which, with its varr ongegn
and the worn-down agēn, yields ME agen, agayn, agein, whence the E aga n. The OE
ongēan and ongegn reveal their origin as on, on (or in)+*gagn or *gegn, straight: cf OHG
ingagan, ingegin, OS angegin, again, against, and ON gegn (or gagn), against, from
gegn, straight.

agaric
: L agaricum: Gr agarikon, perh the neu of adj Agarikos, of Agaria in Eastern Europe.

agate
: adopted from F, from L achates (cf G Achat), from Gr akhatēs, itself from Gr Akhatēs,
the Sicilian river where agate was earliest found.

agathology
. See the element agatho-.

age
; coëval—medieval (or -aeval); eternal (and sempiternal), eterne, eternity; aeon or

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49

eon; ay or aye, always; perh EVER, q.v. separately.
1. There are three IE sub-families represented: Germanic, Latin, Greek. In the first we
have ay, aye, always: ME ai, earlier ei, from ON ei, intimately akin to OE a, āwa,
always—cf OFris ā, OS ēo, eo, io, Go aiw, always: and aiws, an age, and OHG es,
always: f.a.e., see para 6.
2. ML aevum, L aeuum (earlier aeuom; s aeu-) an age, a lifetime, appears in coëval
(formerly coaeval), adj hence n, an -al formation from ML coaevus (prefix co-+aevum),
contemporary, and in medieval, mediaeval (medius, middle +aevum+ -al), and in
primeval (earlier primaeval), an -al formation from ML primaevus, L primaeuus (primus,
first+aeuum); less clearly in E age, OF aage, VL *aetāticum, from L aetātem, acc of
aetās, a contraction of aeuitās (ML aevitās), from aeuum.
3. Aet-, the o/s of L aetās, recurs in aeternus (adj suffix -ernus), whence the literary
eterne; aeternus has the derivative LL var aeternālis (aet-+ ernus+-ālis), whence, via
OF-MF eternel (EF-F é-) the E eternal, and the derivative LL n aeternitās, whence, via
OF-MF eternité (EF-F é-), the E eternity. But eternize goes no further back than EF-F
éterniser, from EF éterne.
4. Sempiternal comes from ML sempiterndlis, from L sempitern us (whence the rare
sempitern), a contraction of semperaeternus—semper, always.
5. AE eon, E aeon (adopted from L), comes from Gr aiōn (s at-), lifetime, age,
intimately akin to PL aeuom; Gr aiōnios, eternal, yields aeonian (adj suffix -an). Cf Gr
aiei (s ai-), always.
6. Gr aiōn app derives from PGr aiwōn, s aiw-: cf the L r aeu-, OHG ēwa, a long time,
eternity, and Go aiw (always). Cf further the Skt āyus, Av āyu, life, with s ay-: cf ON ei
(always). Clearly the IE r is *aiu- (or *aiw-), with var *aeu- (*aew-), basic sense
‘duration’—usu ‘long time’ and often ‘limitless time, eternity’.

agency
; agenda. See:

agent, agency, agential; agenda.
Agenda, things to be done, has been adopted from the neupl of agendus, gerundive of
agere, to drive or lead, hence to act or do. The pp actus leads into the ACT group. The
presp agens, gen agentis, o/s agent-, yields the obs adj agent and (ML agens) the n agent,
whence the adj agential (suffix -ial); yields also the ML agentia, whence the E agency.
Agere (s ag-) is akin to Gr agein (s ag-), to lead or drive—cf the ON aka (s ak-), to
drive. Arm acem (s ac-), I lead, OIr ad-aig, he leads or rushes towards, and Skt ájati (s

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50

aj-), he goes or drives. IE r, *ag-; perh akin to the r of WORK.

agglomerate
; agglomerant, agglomeration, agglomerative.
L agglomerāre (ad, to+glomerāre, to make a ball of) has presp agglomerans, o/s
agglomerant-, whence the n agglomerant; the pp agglomerātus yields both ‘to
agglomerate’ and adj agglomerate, whence n agglomerate. Derivative agglomerātiō, o/s
agglomerātiōn-, leads to agglomeration; but agglomerative is an E -ive formation upon
the L PP s ogglomerat-.
Cf CONGLOMERATE and, f.a.e., CLAM.

agglutinate
, adj and v; agglutination, agglutinative: whether adj or v, agglutinate comes from L
agglutinātus (s agglutin-), pp of agglutināre, to stick, orig to glue, to something: ad,
to+glutināre, to glue: f.a.e., GLUE. On agglutinat- have arisen agglutination and
agglutinative, via EF-F agglutination and agglutinatif.

aggradation
. See GRADE, para 6.

aggrandize
, aggrandizement See GRAND, para 1.

aggravate

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51

, aggravation. See GRAVE, adj, para 3, s f.

aggregate
, adj (hence n) and v; aggregation, aggregative. See GREGAL, para 4.

aggress
, v; aggression, aggressive, aggressor. See GRADE, para 6.

aggrieved
. See GRAVE, adj, para 4.

aghast
See GHOST, para 2.

agile, agility.
L agilitās, o/s agilitāt-, which became MF-F agilité, whence E agility (-ity), derives from
L agilis, nimble (ag-+adj suffix -ilis, cf E -ile), itself from agere (s ag-), to drive or
lead—f.a.e., AGENT.

agio

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52

: F agio or agiot (whence agiotage, adopted by E): It aggio (or agio), ease, convenience,
obs var asio, prob from OF aise: f.a.e., EASE.

agist
, agistment, agistor: OF agister (s agist-), from a (F à), to+gister, to provide lodging,
from giste, (a) lodging, ult from ML jacēre, L iacēre, to lie (stretched out): cf
ADJACENT. Agister yields both OF agistement, whence E agistment, and AF agistour,
whence E agistor.

agitate; agitation, agitative, agitator.
L agitāre (freq of agere, to drive), to set moving, has pp agitātus, whence ‘to agitate’.
The pp s agitāt- has derivatives agitātiō, o/s agitātiōn-, whence F, whence E, agitation;
agitātor, adopted by E; and LL agitātiuus, ML agitātivus, whence the adj agitative. Cf
AGENT and COGITATE.

agnail
. See NAIL, para 2.

agnate
. See NATIVE, para 9.

agnomen
. See NAME, para 4.

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53

agnostic
, whence agnosticism. See the 2nd GNOME, para 5.

ago
: ME ago, agoon, agon, pp of agon, to go away, OE āgān, to go away, pass by: a-,
off+gān, to go.

agog
; earlier, on gog: MF en gogues, lively, merry—cf EF-F étre en goguette(s), to be on the
spree, and EF-F goguenard, mockingly playful. The MF gogue is prob echoic; but perh,
by false division, from It agognare, to be eager, to long, itself akin to:

agony
; agonist, agonistic, agonize; antagonist (antagonistic, antagonism) and protagonist.
The Gr agōnia, a contest—from agōn, a sports gathering (from agcin, s ag-, to drive,
lead, hence to celebrate: cf AGENT), derivatively an athletic contest—became applied
also to a non-physical striving, agony, and has passed through LL agōnia and MF-F
agonie to E agony. Three Gr derivatives have influenced E: agōnistēs, a contestant, LL
agōnista, E agonist, esp in Physio; the subsidiary adj agōnistikos, LL agōnisticus, E
agonistic; and agōnizesthai, LL agōnizāre, (perh via EF-F agoniser) E agonize.
The two principal Gr cpds are antagōnia, obs E antagony, antagōnizesthai, to struggle
against, whence antagonize—(from the v) antagōnisma, whence antagonism—and
antagōnistēs (anti-, against+agōnizesthai) LL antagōnista, E antagonist, whence
antagonistic; and prōtagōnistēs (protos, first + agōnistēs), whence protagonist, orig ‘the
actor taking the leading part’, hence the chief spokesman, the champion of a cause.

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54

agora
. See ALLEGORY and the element agora-.

agouara
and agouti: SAm animals, with SAm names: the former, from Tupi via Port; the latter,
from Guarani via Sp.

agrarian
; agriculture, -cultural, -culturist; agronomy.
The base is L ager, o/s agr-, gen agri, a field; in agronomy, from Gr agronomos,
manager of public lands, it is agros, a field, the 2nd element coming from nemein (s nem), to distribute, (hence) to manage. The IE r is *agro-, an uncultivated field—cf Av
ajras—perh akin to the IE *ag- seen in agere, to drive: cf AGENT.
Agrarian: L agrārius, adj of ager; agriculture: via F from L agricultūra, (lit)
cultivation (cf cultivate at CULT) of the field; hence agricultural (-al, adj) and
agriculturist (-ist).

agree
, agreeable, agreement—disagree, etc.; maugre.
The L grātum, strictly the neu of grātus, pleasant, is prob akin to Skt gūrtás,
celebrated, and said to be of religious origin; it becomes OF-MF gre (MF-F gré),
pleasure, Will, whence OF-MF agreer (a, F à, to), to please, whence ME agreen, whence
‘to agree’; the derivative OF-MF agreable, later agréable, yields agreeable, and late MFF agrément yields agreement. Cf DISAGREE, from MF-F désagréer (dés-, OF des-, L
dis-, from)—disagreeable, from MF-F désagréable—disagreement, from EF-F
désagrément. The archaic maugre, despite, comes from OF maugre, MF maugré, EF-F

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55

malgré, (lit) ill-will, hence a prep ‘in despite of’.

agricultural
, agriculture. See AGRARIAN.

agriology
. See the element agrio-.

agronomy
. See AGRARIAN.

ague
: OF (fievre) ague: ML (febris) acūta, acute fever: f.a.e., ACUTE. Adj: aguish (suffix ish).

ahead
. See HEAD, para 3.

ahem

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56

! See the 3rd HEM.

ahoy
!=interjective a+interjection hoy!—cf ho and D hui! With ahoy! cf F ohé!

aid
, n and v; aidance, aidant; aide-de-camp.
Aid, n: OF-F aide—as in aide-de-camp, ‘aid of camp’ or camp assistant, hence a civillife adjutant—from OF-F aider, to help, whence ‘to aid’, from ML adjutāre, L adiutāre,
freq of adiuuāre, to help, from ad, to+iuuāre, to give pleasure to, (hence) to help; iuuāre,
s iuv-, is akin to iucundus (s iu-+ surfix -cundus, as in fecundus—cf FECUND); the IE r
is app *iu-, to please.
Aidance, aidant: adopted from OF, the former deriving from the latter (aidant, presp
of aider).

ail
, whence (via suffix -ment) ailment: ME ailen, earlier eilen, from OE eglan, to pain, (?
orig) to trouble, akin to Go us-agljan, to distress, and agls (neu s agl), disgraceful. Prob
akin to ILL.

aileron
. See AISLE, para 2.

aim

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57

, v hence n: ME amen, aimen, eimen, to estimate, (hence) to aim (at): OF aesmer (a, to+
esmer, to estimate): L aestimāre, to estimate, or a LL *adaestimāre: f.a.e., see ESTEEM.

air
, n hence v; airy;—aerate, aerial, acrification; aria; aero-, see Elements.
Air comes, via ME aire (or eir) and OF air, from L āerem, acc of āēr, air, from Gr aēr,
haze, mist, (later) air, akin to aētēs, (strong) wind, and Aeolic auēr, Attic aura, cool
breeze or fresh air, and aēmi, I breathe hard, for *awēmi—cf Skt vati, it blows, and Go
waian, to blow. Hence airy (adj suffix -y).
‘To aerate’ (whence aeration)=L aer+v suffix -ate; aerial=āerius (Gr aérios)+adj -al;
aerification, from aerify, itself =āeri-, L c/f+-fy (see Elements). Mus aria: It aria: L āera,
var acc of āēr.

aisle
: ME ile or ele: OF-MF ele (late MF-F aile), wing, (hence) wing of a building: L āla,
point of articulation, (hence) armpit and wing, akin to L axilla, armpit, dim of axis (see
AXIS), and to OHG ahsla, OE eaxl, (articulation of) the shoulder. Mod aisle shows the
influence of isle and, for sense, alley.
2. L āla has adj ālāris, whence alar; and F aile has dim aileron, adopted by E.

ajar
, occ on the jar, derives from ME on charr: charr, from OE cerr, a turn. Ajar denotes (a
door) ‘on the turn’.

akimbo
. See KINK.

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58

akin
. See KIN.

alabaster
: OE alabastre, adopted from OF (var albastre, F albâtre): L alabaster: Gr alabastros,
prop alabastos, perh from an Egyptian town where first treated industrially (cf P2),

alack(a day)
! Prob ah! lack!; ME lak, loss—cf LACK.

alacrity; alacritous.
The adj represents alacrity+suffix -ous. Alacrity comes from L alacritās, o/s alacritāt-,
abs n (cf suffix -tty) from alacer (gen alacri), lively. The s alac derives app from IE r
*al-, var *ul-, to go, as in L ambulare (s ambul-), to walk; cf AMBULATE. But perh
rather from L āla+acer, lit ‘wing-keen’.

Aladdin
: European form of Aladin, from Ar ‘Alā-ad-dīn (ad- for al, the), ‘the height of religion’.

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59

alar
. See AISLE, para 2, and cf the element ali-.

alarm
, n—hence v, hence also alarum (rolled r) and alarmist (suffix -ist)—derives from ME,
from MF, alarme, from It all’arme!, ‘To arms!’: f.a.e., ARM. Cf ALERT.

alas
! See LATE, para 4.

alb
;? Alban, alban; albescent; albino;? Albion; albugo; album; albumen, albumin—
albuminous; aubade.
1. The base is L albus (s alb-), white, akin to Gr alphos (s alph-), a white leprosy, and
alphiton, barley flour, and significantly OHG albiz, a swan; IE r, *albh-, occ var *alph-.
2. The Eccl vestment alb is white, from ML alba (vestis, white garment), f of albus.
Whereas the Chem alban certainly derives from albus, the PN Alban may be of
independent C origin. Albescent comes from albescent-, o/s of albescens, presp of
albescere, inch of albāre, to whiten, from albus; album is prop the neu s of albus—from
the blank white pages; albugo, coming direct from L, means lit ‘whiteness’—
albus+suffix -ūgō; L-become-E albumen, white of egg, derives (suffix -men) from albus,
and albumin is a Chem alteration, and albuminous (albumin-, o/s of albumen+suffix -ous)
the adj of either. Albino is Port for ‘whitish’, from albo, white, from albus.
3. F aubade, a song at aube or dawn, represents aube+n suffix -ade: and aube derives
from VL alba (as later in OPr and in Sp), n from the f of albus and prob elliptical for alba
lux, the pale ‘white light’ of dawn.

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60

4. Albion, adopted from L for ‘England’, derives from C; alb-, white, occurs in C as in
other IE languages; and the name may genuinely refer to ‘the white cliffs of Dover’ (and
other parts of Britain).

albatross
: with b folk-etymologically substituted (for c) from L albus, white, albatross truly comes
from E alcatras, orig pelican, then frigate bird: Port alcatraz, cormorant, albatross, from
Port alcatraz, bucket: Ar al-qādūs, lit ‘the (al) water jar or vessel’, qādūs deriving perh
from Gr kados (itself from Phoenician or else from H kad), but prob direct from H kad,
water jar, bucket. ‘Basic idea: water carrier’ (Webster).

albeit
, (even) though: ME al be it, ‘all (though) it be’.

albert
, watch-chain: Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort.

albescent
, albino (both para 2); Albion (para 4); albugo, album, albumen, albumin (all para 2).
See ALB.

alcanet
; alcanna. See HENNA.

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61

alchemist
, alchemy. See CHEMICAL, para 2.

alcohol
, whence the sl alky and the adj, hence n, alcoholic.
Alcohol comes direct from ML, which adapted it from Ar
: whence E kohl)’ for painting the eyelids. For al, cf:

, ‘the (al) powder (

alcove
: EF-F alcôve: Sp (and Port) alcoba: Ar al-qubbah, the arch or vault, hence a smallrecessed room, usu with a couch. (Cf ‘Articled Nouns’ in p4.)

alder
: ME alder, earlier aller: OE aler, alor, akin to ON elrir, ölr, OHG elira—Lith alksnis—
Pol olcha—L alnus—and prob E ELM. IE r, *al-, var *el-.

alderman
. See OLD, para 4.

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62

ale
; alegar; alum—aluminium, aluminium; aluminous.
Alegar blends ale and vinegar: and ale derives from OE alu, var ealu, akin to ON öl,
ale, and OSl olŭ, beer—and also to L alūmen (alum), whence, via OF-MF alum (EF-F
alun), the ME and F alum, which tastes astringent; ‘basic idea: bitter’ (Webster). L
alūmen, o/s alumin-, yields the Chem alumina, whence aluminium (Sci suffix -ium) and
AE aluminum, both with adj aluminous, prompted by L alūminōsus, the adj of alūmen,
perh akin, incidentally, to Gr aludoimon or aludimon, prop the neu s of aludoimos, bitter.

alembic
: ME, from MF, alambic: Ar al-inbiq, the still; al, the+inbiq, from Gr ambix (o.o.o.), cap
of a still. Hence, by aphesis, the archaic mbec(k).

alert
, adj hence n, hence v: F alerte, EF a (F a) l’erte, on the watch: It all’erta, (standing) in a
look-out, e.g. on a watch-tower: It all’=alla=a (L ad) la, at or in the+erta, a look-out, orig
the f of adj erto, steep, from erto, elevated—the pp of ergere, from L ērigere, to raise: cf
ERECT. Orig a call to arms: cf ALARM. (P4: ‘Articled Nouns’.)

alethiology
; alethoscope. See the element aletho-.

aleurometer

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63

. See the element aleuro-.

Alexander
—Alexandria—Alexandrian—Alexandrine, alexandrine; sawney.
Alexander, ‘protector of men’, L Alexander, comes from Gr Alexandros (alexein, to
protect + andros, gen of anēr, a man); the f Alexandra, from It Alessandra; from
Alexander the Great, the derivative city-name Alexandria, whence Alexandrian—L
Alexander has adj Alexandrīnus, whence Alexandrine, whence, via MF-F alexandrin, the
alexandrines of verse, from MF heroic poems about Alexander the Great. (Cf P2.)—E
Alexander, a favourite given name in Scotland, has pet-form Sandy, occ corrupted to
Sawney—not the origin of B dial sawney, foolish, idle (fellow), cf ZANY.

alfalfa
(lucerne): adopted from Sp, earlier alfalfez, from Ar
of fodder.

or -façfaçah, the best sort

algae
, pl of L alga (s alg), seaweed: perh alga is akin to algēre (s alg-), to be cold. Cf algid,
cold, from L algidus, itself from algēre.

algebra
, whence algebraic, algebraist: adopted from either It or ML algebra, from Ar al-jabr,
elliptical for al-jabr w-al-muqūbalah, ‘the reduction and the comparison’ by equations:
al, the+n from jabara (triconsonantal r: jbr), to bind together. Al-jabr, the reduction (lit,
reparation), became, in Math, understood as ‘the reduction of arithmetic to a better form’.
(B & W.)

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64

algid
. See ALGAE.

alias
; alibi: L alias, otherwise, esp otherwise called; L alibi, elsewhere: both from alius,
other. Cf:

alien
, adj hence n; alienage; alienate, alienation; alienist.
L alius, other (adj), another (pron)—f.a.e., ELSE—has derivative aliēnus, of,
belonging to, another, whence: alien, via OF-EF alien; alienage (suffix age), from F
aliénage; alienate, from L aliēnātus, pp of aliēnāre, to estrange, from aliēnus; alienation,
MF alienation (EF-F alié-), L alienātiō (acc alienātiōnem), from aliēnāre; alienist, from
F aliéniste (alien+-iste, E -ist). Cf ALIAS.

aliferous
, aligerous, aliform. See the element alī-.

alight
, adj: either a-, on+light, fire, or the pp of ME alihten, to set aflame, OE ālīhtan (a,
on+līhtan,
, to shine: cf LIGHT, v).

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65

alight
, v, to descend. See LEVER, para 11.

align
, alignment See LINE, para 6.

alike
. See LIKE, para 4.

aliment; alimentary; alimentation.
Aliment, adopted from OF-F, comes from L alimentum, food, lit ‘what nourishes’, from
alere (s al-), to nourish, a v with numerous IE cognates: f.a.e., OLD. Alimentum has adj
alimentārius, whence E alimentary, and LL v alimentāre, whence ML alimentātiō, o/s
alimentātiōn-, whence E alimentation, sustenance. Cf:

alimony
: L alimōnia, sustenance, from alere, to nourish. Cf prec.

aliped

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66

; alitrunk. See the element ali-.

alive
. See LIFE, para 2.

alkali
: ME alkaly or alc-: MF alcali: Ar al-qilī, the ashes (of saltwort). Hence the adj, whence
the n, alkaloid: alkali+suffix -old.

alkanna
. See HENNA.

an
, adj—hence adv and n; albeit—almighty—almost—also—although; withal.
1. All derives, via ME al, pl alle, from OE all, eall, pl alle, ealle: akin to OFris (and
OS) all, OHG al (G all), Go alls, ON allr—? to Cor ōl and OIr uile, ule, Ga uile, OC
*oljos—Lith alvīenas, each one—Oscan allo—perh the rare L allers, learned (? ‘gifted
with all knowledge’); IE r, perh *al-. (Feist.)
2. Albeit: sep entry; almighty (adj hence n), OE ealmihtig, ‘all, i.e. entirely, mighty’;
almost, OE
,
, all—i.e., quite—(the) most; also, ME al so, OE ealswā,
aelswā, alswā, from eal (etc.)+swā, so, lit therefore ‘quite so'—cf OFris al-sa;
although=all+ON thōh.
3. Withal merely= with all, ME with all or with alle.

Allah

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67

: Ar Allāh, conflation of al-ilāh, the god, the god, God. Cf Hit ilu, god or goddess, Aram
alāhā (cf Syriac allāhā), Biblical Aram ’elāh, H ’elōah; the Sem r is il-, var el-, and it
occurs in, e.g., Elijah and Elisha.

allantoic
. See the element allanto-.

allay
, (obs) to lay aside, to quieten, hence allayment (suffix -ment): ME alaien, earlier al
eggen, to lay down, humble, end: OE ālecgan, from ā-, out+ lecgan, to lay (see LAY, v):
Go us-lagjan, OHG ar-leggēn.

allegation
: adopted from OF, from lL allegātiō o/s allegation-, from allegāre (pp alegātus), to,
send a message: ad, to+legāre, to send, to commission: f.a.e., see LEGATE. Senseinfluenced by:

allege
. See LITIGANT, para 2.

allegiance
: ME alegeaunce: a- to+OF ligeance, from lige, liege: f.a.e., LIEGE. Sense-influenced
by L ligāre, to bind.

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68

allegory
; allegoric(al), allegorism, allegorist, allegorize.
The Gr allēgoria, allos, other (cf ELSE)+a n deriving from, or akin to, agoreuein, to
speak in the agora (s agor-) or assembly (from agein, s ag-, to drive or lead), became L
allēgoria, whence F allégorie and E allēgory, ‘a speaking otherwise’. The derivative Gr
adj allēgorikos yields, via LL allēgoricus, the F allégorique and E allegoric, whence the
elaboration allegorical. LGr allēgorizein became LL allēgorizāre became F allégoriser,
whence E allegorize, whence allegorization. Allegorism, allegorist=allegory+ the
suffixes -ism, -ist; the latter perh came from LL allegoristes, itself from LGr allēgoristēs.

allegro
. See ALACRITY, para 2.

alleluia (hallelujah)
: LL allēlūia: Gr allēlouia: H hallēlū-yāh, praise ye Jah (Jehovah).

allergic
, allergy. See ENERGETIC, para 3.

alleviate
, alleviation, alleviative, alleviator. See LEVER, para 7.

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69

alley
: ME aley: OF alee (F allée), a going, (hence) a passage, from aler, to go: L ambulāre, to
walk. ‘The abnormal reduction of ambulāre must have happened in military orders, thus
*allate for imp ambulate, “March!”’; this sense of ambulāre occurs in LL. (B & W.) Cf
AMBLE.

Allhallows
. See HOLY, para 3.

alliance
; ally, v hence n. See LIGAMENT, para 5.

alligator
. See LEG, para 3.

alliterate
; alliteration, alliterative. See LETTER, para 6.

allocate

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70

; allocation; ML allocātus, pp of allocāre, to put into its place, to apportion: L ad, to+
locāre, to place, from locus, a place: f.a.e., LOCAL. Hence ML allocātiō, o/s allocātiōn-,
whence allocation. Cf ALLOW.

allochromatic
; allomorph; allopathy. See the element allo-.

allot
, allotment. See LOT, para 3.

allow
, whence (? via F allouable) allowable; allowance.
Allow comes, via ME alouen and OF-EF alouer, to place, to assign, from L allocāre:
cf ALLOCATE and, f.a.e., LOCAL: sense-confused with OF alouer, to laud, to approve
(L allaudāre, to belaud). OF alouer, to place, has derivative alouance, whence
allowance, n hence v.

alloy
, n and v; alloyage.
Alloy, n, comes from MF-F aloi, from OF aloier, earlier aleier (var alier), to bind, to
combine, from L alligāre: cf ALLIANCE and, f.a.e., LIGAMENT. OF aloier became F
aloyer, whence ‘to alloy’ and F aloyage, whence E alloyage (suffix -age).

allude

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; allusion, allusive. Cf collusion, delude, elude, illusion, prelude—but see LUDICROUS,
para 3.

allure
. See LURE, para 2.

alluvial
; alluvion; alluvium. See LAVA, para 9.

ally
. See LIGAMENT, para 5.

almanac
: ME almenak: ML almanachus or almanach: either from Byz Gr almenikhiaka,
calendars, pl of almenikhiakon
, itself from Ar, or direct from the
Moorish Ar al-manākh, the calendar: Ar al, the+manākh, weather, orig a place (connoted
by prefix ma-) where camels kneel (nākha, to kneel)—hence, a camp—hence, a
settlement—hence, (settled) weather: al-manākh, ‘(that which records) the weather (one
may expect)’.

almighty
. See ALL, para 2.

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72

almond
: ME almande: OF alemande (MF-F amande): Late VL amandula (cf Rum mandula, var
of migdala): L amygdala: Gr amugdalē, perh from Asia Minor—if not the Orient—but cf
H magdī'ēl (or meged’ēl), ‘precious gift from God’, and OProv amela.

almoner
. See ALMS.

almost
. See ALL, para 2.

alms
, whence almsdeed (act—cf DEED—of charity) and almshouse; almoner, almonry;—
eleemosynary, adj hence n.
Alms: ME almes, earlier almesse: OE aelmysse: LL el(e)ēmosyna: LGr eleēmosunē,
compassion, alms, from Gr elaēmōn, merciful, from eleos, compassion (o.o.o.). LL el(e)
ēmosyna acquired, in ML, the adj el(e)ēmosynārius, whence E eleemosynary; also prob
via VL *alemosina, it yielded OF almosne, whence the agent almosnier, aumosnier,
whence ME aumener, whence E almoner; and OF almosne yielded aumosnerie, whence
E almonry.

aloe

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(adj aloetic): L aloë: LGr aloē: H alōth, aloe (cf ’ahālīm, aloe wood). The var aloes
comes, via F aloès, from LL aloës (orig the gen of aloë), var of aloë. Aloetic app derives
from F aloétique, a learned formation, as if from ML *aloeticus or LGr *aloētikos.

aloft
. See the 2nd LIFT, para 1, s.f.

alone
. See ONE, para 10.

along
. See LONG, para 2.

aloof
. See LUFF, para 2.

aloud
: a-, on (connoting manner)+LOUD; cf obsol alow.

alp

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, whence the Alps; alpenstock; alpine: from L Alpes (cf the LGr Alpeis), the Alps,
whence the adj alpīnus, whence Alpine, alpine (cf EF-F alpin); alpenhorn and alpenstock
are borrowings from G (Alpen, pl of Alpe). L Alpes is app of C origin; several authorities
(e.g. Walshe) think it prob non-IE, but cf the C *alp, high mountain (Ir ailp or alpa, a
protuberance, a high mountain)—perh a var of the C *alb, (to be) white, akin to L albus,
Sabine alpus, Gr alphos (cf ALB); perh cf Hit alpas, a cloud. Only the high mountains
tend to be white.

alpaca
is cloth made from hair of the alpaca (a SAm llama): Sp alpaca: Quechua alpaca, perh
from Quechua paco, red.

alpenstock
. See ALP; cf STAKE, para 6.

alphabet
: perh adopted from late MF-F: LL alphabētum: LGr alphabētos, from the 1st two letters
of Gr alphabet, A, B, alpha, bēta (cf H beth). Alpha (akin to H āleph) occurs also in
alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, omega (ω) being the last letter: cf
Revelations, i, 8.

alpine
. See ALP.

already

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; alright. Simply all ready and all right.

Alsace
; Alsatia, whence Alsatian: ML Alsatia, from OHG Elisaz (G Elsass), whence Alsace;
the much-contested marches between France and Germany, hence, in C17-early C18
London, a sanctuary for debtors and criminals. The quadruped Alsatian is elliptical for
Alsatian wolf dog (German sheepdog).

also
. See ALL.

altar
; altarist. The latter comes, prob via F altariste, from LL altarista, from LL altāre (usu
of a Christian altar and as pl altāria), whence, via OE and ME, the E altar (cf the OF
alter); the connexion with L altus, high, is prob f/e—but then so perh also is that with L
āra, a pagan altar.

alter
, whence alterable (cf the MF-F altérable); alterant; alteration; alterative, adj hence n.
Alter: MF-F altérer: LL alterāre, to change, from alter, the other (of two)—orig a
comp of, or at the least akin to, alius, other, (pron) another: f.a.e., see ELSE. Alterāre (s
alter-) has presp alterans, o/s alterant-, whence the E adj (hence n) alterant; and pp
alterātus, s alterāt-, on which arose both the LL alterātiō, o/s alterātiōn-, whence, prob
via MF-F alteration, the E alteration, and the ML alterātivus, whence alterative. Cf
ALTERNATE and:

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altercate, altercation.
The L altercāri, to be at variance, esp heatedly, derives from alter, other (see prec), and
has pp altercātus, whence ‘to altercate’, and subsidiary n altercātiō, o/s altercātiōn-,
whence MF-F, hence E, altercation.

alternate
, adj (whence n) and v; alternant, adj hence n; alternation; alternative, adj hence n;
alternator.
The adj and v alternate both come from L alternātus, pp of alternāre, from alternus
(suffix -nus), from alter (see ALTER); alternus yields the rare altern. Alternāre has presp
alternans, o/s alternant-, whence alternant, whence the irreg formed alternacy; and on
the pp alternātus (s alternāt-) arose both the L alternātiō, o/s alternātiōn-, whence
alternation, and the ML alternātive, whence the adj alternative. Alternator is an E
formation.

although
. See ALL, para 2.

altitude
; alto, altissimo; cf the element alti-.
L altus (s alt-), high, was orig the pp of alere, to nourish: f.a.e., OLD. Its derivative
altitūdō yields E altitude, and the It form alto has, with its sup altissimo, been adopted,
by Mus, everywhere—so has its cpd contralto (prefix contra, against), the lowest female
voice.

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altogether
: ME altogedere, from al, all+togedere. See ALL and TOGETHER.

altruism, altruist, altruistic.
Altruism: F altruisme, (with L l) from autrui, other persons, itself deriving, under the
influence of lui, he, from autre, another, from L alter, other: f.a.e., ALTER. Altruistic
comes (by -ic) from the F adj altruiste, which prob suggested the E n altruist.

alum
; alumina, aluminium, etc. See ALE.

alveolar
: the adj corresp to the element alveoli-.

always
. See VIA, para 6.

am

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78

, OE am and eom, comes, like is and are and ‘(thou) art’, from an IE r *es-, to exist:
f.a.e., ESSENCE,

amain
. See MAIN.

amalgam
; amalgamate, amalgamation, amalgamative, amalgamator.
Amalgam: late MF-F amalgame: late ML amalgama: Ar al-malgham: AT al, the+Gr
malagma, an emollient, from malassein, to soften, from malakos, soft, IE r pern *mal-.
Amalgam+v suffix -ate yields ‘to amalgamate’, whence amalgamation (suffix -ion, cf ation)—amalgamative (-ive)—amalgamator (agential -or).

amanuensis
. See MANUAL.

amass
, whence (suffix -ment) amassment: OF-F amasser: a (F à), L ad, towards, to+masser, to
assemble, from the n masse (see MASS).

amateur
, n hence adj and amateurism; amative; amatory; amorist, amorous, amour—
enamour, AE enamor, and paramour—inamorata, inamorato;—amicable, amiable

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(amiability); amity; inimical; enemy.
The chain is this;
IE r *am-, to love: cf Gr adamnein (ad-, Phrygian int prefix+am-+ infix -n-+inf suffix ein);
I: L amāre (s am-), to love; whence
1, amator, a lover, whence MF-F, hence E, amateur—cf the suffix -ator;
2, amatōrius, whence amatory—cf the suffixes -atory and -ory;
3, ML amatīvus, worthy of love—but in E, tending to love.
II: L amor (s am-), love, prob imm from amāre; personified as Amor; hence the OF-F
amour, sense-adapted by E to ‘love affair’; whence
1, LL amorōsus, full of (passionate) love, whence OF amorous (F amoureux), whence E
amorous;
2, amorist, an E formation (suffix -ist) from amor;
3, the prefix cpds enamour, AE enamor, from OF-MF enamorer, EF-F enamourer (en,
in+amour + inf suffix -er and inamorata (f), inamorato (m), a person in love or a
person loved, from It innamorata, innamorato, f and m of the pp of innamorare, to
enamour; and paramour, ME par amur, par amour, paramur, (C14 onwards)
paramour, from OF par amour, orig adv, by (or with) love.
III:—amīcus, friend, whence
1, LL amīcābilis, whence E amicable and OF-EF amiable, whence, influenced by OFMF amable, MF-F aimable (L amābilis, from amāre), the E amiable, whence
amiability;
2, VL *amicitās, acc *amīcitātem, whence OF-MF amistié or -té (EF-F amitié), whence
E amity;
3, the opp inimīcus (for *inamīcus), an enemy, whence OF enemi, whence E enemy; with
derivatives LL inimīcālis, whence inimical, hostile, and VL *inimīcitās (o/s inimīcitāt), whence OF enemistié, whence ME enemyte, whence enmity.

amaze
, amazement. See MAZE.

Amazon
, amazon.

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An amazon, or proficiently bellicose or merely tall, strong woman, derives from
Amazon: L Amazon; Gr Amazōn, member of a race of mythical (?) female warriors: pern
privative a-+mazos, breast+presp suffix -on, with mazos akin to madan, to be moist, IE r
*mad-, to drip: from removal of right breast to facilitate archery; prob, however, from
Iranian, esp OPer, *hamazan-, a warrior, as Boisacq holds.
The river Amazon, Sp Rio Amazonas, takes its name from some riverine women that
impressed the early explorers.

ambassador
, ambassadorial. See EMBASSY.

amber: ambergris.
Ambergris half-anglicizes the F ambre gris, grey amber (cf GRAY). Amber itself came
into ME from OF-F ambre, from Ar ‘anbar (ambergris).

ambidextrous
, ambidexterity: the latter, prompted by dexterity, derives by suffix -ity from the former,
which anglicizes the rare ambidexter, adopted from ML: ambi-, both+dexter (manus),
right hand: ‘having two right hands’. Cf AMBIGUITY.

ambience
, ambient. See AMBIT.

ambiguity

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, ambiguous.
The former comes, via MF-F ambiguité, from L ambiguitās, o/s ambiguitāt-, from
ambiguus, whence E ambiguous (suffix -ous): and ambiguus derives from ambigere, to
drive, hence to go—L agere (f.a.e.: AGENT)—on both sides—L ambo, both, c/f ambi(Elements). Cf:

ambit
; ambition, ambitious; ambience, ambient.
Resp, ambit: L ambitus, a circuit, from ambīre, to go around or about—cf the element
ambi- and, for the r it-, ISSUE; ambition, perh via MF-F, from L ambitiō (o/s ambitiān-),
a going about, esp for votes; ambitious—perh via MF-F ambitieux, f ambitieuse—from L
ambitiōsus, adj corresp to ambitiō; ambience—perh via F ambiance—from
ambient+abstract suffix -ce; ambient, perh via EF-F ambiant, from L ambient-, o/s of
ambiens, presp of ambīre—cf the LL ambienter, ambitiously.

ambivalence
, -valent. See VALUE, para 11.

amble
, n and v—preamble—? ramble, v hence n and rambler; ambulance, ambulant—
ambulate, ambulation, ambulatory; circumambulate, circumambulation;
perambulate, perambulation, perambulator; alley (sep).
1. Amble, n, adopted from OF-F: from OF ambler, whence, at the ME stage, ‘to
amble’: perh via OProv amblar: from LL ambulāre, to amble, from L ambulāre, to go
about, take a turn, make a tour, (hence) to walk: amb-, for ambi-, (lit) on both sides,
(hence) about, around+al-, to go+inf suffix -āre. The r ul-, like al- (see ALACRITY), is a
var of IE r *el-, to go; perh cf Gr alaomai (s al-), I wander, and elaunō (s elaun, r el-), I
drive—and certainly cf L exul, one who goes out (from his homeland)-and W el, let him
go!
2. Ambulāre has presp ambulans, o/s ambulant-, whence the E adj ambulant, also in F;
the F hôpital ambulant, a field hospital, yields F, hence E, ambulance. The pp ambulātus
accounts for ‘to ambulate’, and the subsidiary ambulātiō, o/s ambulātiōn-, becomes E

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ambulation; ambulator comes direct from L, ambulatory—perh via late MF-F
ambulatoire—from L ambulatōrius.
3. The rare ‘to preamble’, lit ‘to walk before’ (cf the prefix pre-), comes from LL
praeambulāre, whence the LL adj praeambulus, whence the ML n praeambulum, whence
MF-F préambule, whence E preamble.
4. L perambulāre, to walk per or through, has pp perambulātus, whence ‘to
perambulate’, to walk, hence to travel, over; the derivative LL perambulātiō, o/s
permabulātiōn-, yields perambulation; perambulator is an E formation (cf agential -or):
the baby-carriage sense is derivative.
5. LL circumambulāre, to walk circum or around, has pp circumambulātus, whence ‘to
circumambulate’, whence E has analogously derived circumambulation, etc.
6. Now, ‘to ramble’, whence ‘a ramble’ and rambler (person, later a rose), is usu
described as ‘o.o.o.’: but ME ramblen could, after amble, have come from VL *r
ambulāre, for LL reambulāre, an inferior var of L redambulāre, to walk back, esp from
an excursion.
7. Cf sep ALLEY.

ambrosia
, ambrosial: L, from Gr, ambrosia, from ambrotos, immortal: am-, euphonic for an-,
not+ brotos, mortal: cf MORTAL and MURDER. Ambrosial: E ambrosia+ adj suffix -al;
or an -al adaptation of L ambrosius (Gr ambrosios).

ambulance
; ambulant; ambulate. See AMBLE, para 2.

ambuscade
, n hence v; ambush, n and v.
Ambuscade comes from late MF-F embuscade, from MF-F embusquer, to ambush,
from OF embuscher, embuschier (influenced by It imboscare), whence the n embusche
(later embûche), whence E ‘an ambush’; whence also, via ME embuschen, the E ‘to
ambush’. Embuscher, embuschier, lit ‘to take to the woods’=em-, in(to)+busche: f.a.e.,
BUSH.

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ameliorable
, ameliorant, ameliorate, amelioration, amelorative. See MELIORABLE, para 1.

amen
: LL āmēn: Aram Gr amēn: H āmēn, Truly, or thus be it.

amenable
. See MINATORY, para 6.

amend
, amendment, amends; amende hono