- genuine
[genuine 词源字典] - genuine: [16] Latin genu meant ‘knee’ (it comes from the same Indo-European ancestor as English knee, and gave English genuflection [16]). In Rome and elsewhere in the ancient world, it was the convention for a father to acknowledge a newly-born child as his own by placing it on his knee – hence the child was genuinus.
=> genuflection, knee[genuine etymology, genuine origin, 英语词源] - genuine (adj.)
- 1590s, "natural, not acquired," from Latin genuinus "native, natural, innate," from root of gignere "beget" (see genus), perhaps influenced in form by contrasting adulterinus "spurious." [Alternative etymology is from Latin genu "knee," from a supposed ancient custom of a father acknowledging paternity of a newborn by placing it on his knee.] Meaning "really proceeding from its reputed source" is from 1660s. Related: Genuinely; genuineness.
