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squadron [squadron 词源字典]: squadron: [16] A squadron is etymologically a ‘square’. The current sense ‘military group’ comes from an earlier ‘square formation of troops’. The word was borrowed from Italian squadrone, a derivative of squadra ‘square’, which comes from the same source as English square. The related squad [17] comes from French escouade, an alteration of escadre, which was acquired from Italian squadra.
=> quarter, square[squadron etymology, squadron origin, 英语词源]
square: square: [13] Etymologically a square is a ‘four’- sided figure. The word comes via Old French esquare or esqire (squire was the Middle English form of square) from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, a derivative of *exquadrāre ‘square’. This was a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix ex- and Latin quadrāre ‘square’, a derivative of the Latin stem quat-, quad- ‘four’, from which English gets quadrant, quarantine, quarter, etc, as well as cadre, and, via Italian, squad and squadron. The use of the adjective square for ‘stuffy, old-fashioned’ originated in jazz circles in the USA in the 1940s.
=> cadre, quadrant, quarter, squadron
squash: squash: see quash
squat: squat: [13] Someone who squats is etymologically ‘forced together’ – and indeed the verb originally meant ‘squash, flatten’ in English (‘This stone shall fall on such men, and squat them all to powder’, John Wyclif, Sermons 1380). Not until the early 15th century did the modern sense (based on the notion of hunching oneself up small and low) emerge. The word was adapted from Old French esquatir, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix es- and quatir ‘press flat’.

This in turn came from Vulgar Latin *coactīre ‘press together’, a verb based on Latin coāctus, the past participle of cōgere ‘force together’ (from which English gets cogent [17]). The adjectival use of squat for ‘thickset’, which preserves some of the word’s original connotations of being ‘flattened’, is first recorded in 1630. Swat ‘slap’ [17] originated as a variant of squat.
=> cogent, swat
squint: squint: [14] Squint is short for the now nearly defunct asquint [13], which may have been based on the ancestor of Dutch schuinte ‘slope, slant’, a derivative of schuin ‘sideways, sloping’. The origins of this are not known.
squire: squire: [13] A squire is etymologically a ‘shieldcarrier’. The word was adapted from Old French esquier (which was later reborrowed into English as esquire [15]). This was descended from Latin scūtārius ‘shield-carrier’, a derivative of scūtum ‘shield’ (source also of English escutcheon [15]).
=> escutcheon
squirrel: squirrel: [14] The squirrel’s name means etymologically ‘little shadow-tail’. It comes via Anglo-Norman esquirel from Vulgar Latin *scūriōlus, a diminutive form of *scūrius. This was an alteration of Latin sciūrus ‘squirrel’ (now the scientific name for the squirrel genus), which in turn came from Greek skíouros, a compound formed from skiá ‘shadow’ and ourá ‘tail’.
=> constable, establish, stand
stable: stable: English has two distinct words stable, but both come ultimately from the same source: the Indo-European base *stā- ‘stand’, ancestor also of English stand. The adjective stable [13] comes via Old French estable from Latin stabilis ‘standing firm’, which has also given English establish, stability [15], and stabilize [19]. It was formed from the base *stā-, as was Latin stabulum ‘standing-place’, hence ‘enclosure for animals’, which English acquired via Old French estable as stable [13]. The corresponding Germanic formation, also based on *stā-, is stall. A constable is etymologically an ‘officer in charge of stables’.
stadium: stadium: [16] Greek stádion denoted a ‘racetrack’, particularly the one at Olympia, which was about 185 metres long. In due course the word came to be used as a term for a measure of length equal to this, and that was the sense in which English originally acquired it, via Latin stadium. The original ‘racetrack’ was introduced in the 17th century, and ‘sports arena’ is a modern development of this. The Greek word itself was an alteration of an earlier spádion ‘racetrack’, a derivative of span ‘pull’ (source of English spasm). The change from sp- to st- was perhaps set in motion by Greek stádios ‘fixed, firm’.
=> spasm
staff: staff: [OE] Staff is a widespread Germanic word, with relatives in German stab, Dutch and Swedish staf, and Danish stav. These point back to a common Germanic ancestor *stabaz. Its ancestral meaning is ‘stick’, and its use as a collective term for ‘employees’, which dates in English from the 18th century, probably originated as an allusion to the carrying of a staff or ‘stick’ of office by a person in charge of subordinates – who thus became subsumed metaphorically under the notion of his ‘staff’.
stage: stage: [13] A stage (like a stable) is etymologically a ‘standing-place’. The word comes via Old French estage from Vulgar Latin *staticum ‘standing-place, position’, a derivative of Latin stāre ‘stand’ (to which English stand is distantly related). By the time it arrived in English it had acquired the additional connotation of a ‘set of positions one above the other’, and this led to its use in the more concrete senses ‘storey, floor’ and ‘raised platform’.

The specific application to a ‘platform in a theatre’ emerged in the mid-16th century. The sense ‘section of a journey’ (on which stagecoach [17] is based) developed at the end of the 16th century, presumably on the analogy of physical levels succeeding one another in ‘steps’ or ‘tiers’; and the further metaphoricization to ‘step in development’ took place in the 19th century.
=> stand
staid: staid: see stay
stair: stair: [OE] A stair is etymologically something you ‘climb’. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *staigrī (source also of Dutch steiger ‘scaffolding’). This was derived from the base *staig-, *stig- ‘rise’, which also produced English stile, stirrup, and sty in the eye. And this in turn went back to an Indo-European *steigh- ‘go, rise’, source also of Greek steíkhein ‘stride, go’ and Irish tiagu ‘go’.
=> stile, stirrup, sty
stake: stake: [OE] Stake ‘post’ comes ultimately from the prehistoric Germanic base *stak-, *stek-, *stik- ‘pierce, prick’, which also produced English attach, stick, stockade, etc. It may be that stake ‘wager’ [16] is the same word, alluding to a supposed former practice of putting the object wagered (such as one’s shirt) on a post before the start of the contest.
=> attach, stick, stockade
stalactite: stalactite: [17] A stalactite is etymologically something that ‘drips’. The word was coined in modern Latin as stalactītēs, based on Greek stalaktós ‘dripping’, a derivative of the verb stalássein ‘drip’. Also derived from stalássein was stalagmós ‘dropping’, which formed the basis of stalagmite [17].
stale: stale: [13] Something that is stale has etymologically been allowed to ‘stand’ – so that it is no longer fresh. The word comes from Old French estale ‘stationary’, a derivative of estaler ‘halt’ (from which English gets the verb stall). And this in turn goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *sta- ‘stand’. Stale originally denoted wine, beer, etc that had ‘stood’ long enough for the sediment to clear (‘If mead is well sod [boiled] and stale it is liking to the taste’, John de Trevisa, De proprietatibus rerum 1398), and it was not until the early 16th century that derogatory connotations of lack of freshness began to creep in.
=> stall, stand
stalemate: stalemate: [18] Stalemate is a compound noun, based on the now obsolete stale ‘stalemate’. And this in turn was probably borrowed from Anglo- Norman estale ‘fixed position’, a derivative of Old French estaler ‘halt’, which also underlies English stale and stall. So etymologically, when you reach stalemate in chess, you have to ‘stand’ or ‘halt’ where you are, going neither forward nor back.
stalk: stalk: English has two distinct words stalk. The noun, ‘plant stem’ [14], probably originated as a diminutive form of the now extinct stale ‘long handle’, a word distantly related to Greek steleá ‘handle’. The verb, ‘track stealthily’ [OE], goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *stalkōjan, which was formed from the same base as produced English steal. The sense ‘walk haughtily’, diametrically opposed to ‘track stealthily’, emerged in the 16th century.
stall: stall: Stall ‘compartment, booth, etc’ [OE] and stall ‘stop’ [15] are distinct words, but they have a common ancestor, in prehistoric Germanic *stal-, *stel- ‘position’ (source of English still). This in turn was formed from the base *sta- ‘stand’, which also produced English stand. From *stal- was derived the noun *stallaz ‘standing-place (for an animal)’, which has given German, Swedish, and English stall, Dutch stal, and Danish stald.

A stallion [14] is etymologically a horse kept in a ‘stall’ for breeding purposes. And stable represents a parallel Latin formation to the Germanic stall (it has become specialized to a ‘building for horses’, whereas stall developed to ‘standingplace for a single animal’). The same Germanic base produced Frankish *stal ‘position’, which formed the basis of Old French estaler ‘halt’, source of the English verb stall, and also of English stale and stalemate.
=> stale, stallion, stand, still
stalwart: stalwart: [14] The ancestor of stalwart was Old English stǣlwierthe. The second half of this compound adjective denoted ‘worth, worthy’, but the precise significance of the first element is not clear. It represents Old English stǣl ‘place’, perhaps used here in the metaphorical sense ‘stead’, so that etymologically the word would mean ‘able to stand someone in good stead’.

But stǣl itself may have been a contraction of stathol ‘foundation’, so the underlying meaning of the compound could be ‘foundation-worthy’, hence ‘firmly fixed’ (an adjective statholfæst existed in Old English, meaning ‘firm, stable’). South of the border it became stalworth, which had virtually died out by the end of the 17th century. But the Scottish variant stalwart, first recorded in the late 14th century, survived, and was brought into the general language by Sir Walter Scott.