- assault
[assault 词源字典] - assault: [13] To assault somebody was originally to ‘jump on’ them. The word comes from a Vulgar Latin compound verb *assaltāre, formed from the prefix ad- ‘to’ and saltāre ‘jump’, a frequentative form (denoting repeated action) of the verb salīre ‘jump’ (which is the source of English salient, and by a similar compounding process produced assail [13]). In Old French this became asauter, and English originally borrowed it as asaute, but in the 16th century the l was reintroduced.
=> assail, somersault[assault etymology, assault origin, 英语词源] - assault (n.)
- late 14c., earlier asaut (c. 1200), from Old French asaut, assaut "an attack, an assault, attacking forces" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *adsaltus "attack, assault," from ad "to" (see ad-) + Latin saltus "a leap," from salire "to leap, spring" (see assail). In law by 1580s; historically, assault includes menacing words or actions; battery is an actual blow.
- assault (v.)
- early 15c., from Middle French asauter, assauter, from Vulgar Latin *assaltare (see assault (n.)). Related: Assaulted; assaulting.
