distinguish的词源

英文词源

distinguish (v.): 1560s, from Middle French distinguiss-, stem of distinguer, or directly from Latin distinguere "to separate between, keep separate, mark off, distinguish," perhaps literally "separate by pricking," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + -stinguere "to prick" (compare extinguish and Latin instinguere "to incite, impel").

Watkins says "semantic transmission obscure;" the sense might be from "pricking out" as the old way to make punctuation in parchment or some literal image, but de Vaan derives the second element from a different PIE root meaning "to push, thrust."
The meanings of ex- and restinguere 'to extinguish' and distinguere seem quite distinct, but can be understood if the root meant 'to press' or 'push': ex-stinguere 'to put a fire out', re-stinguere 'to push back, suppress', and dis-stinguere 'to push apart [thence] distinguish, mark off ...."
The suffix -ish is due to the influence of many verbs in which it is the equivalent of Old French -iss-, ultimately from Latin inchoative suffix -iscere (this is also the case in extinguish, admonish, and astonish). Related: Distinguishing. The earlier form of the verb was distinguen (mid-14c.).

dis-, 分开，散开。-sting, 刺，做标记，词源同sting, stick. 即分开标记的，区分清楚的。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：distinguish 词源，distinguish 含义。

来源于拉丁语中由dis-(分离)和stinguere(刺)组成的复合动词distinguere,原义是"以刺的记号区别"。

词根词缀： di-分离 + -stingu-刺 + -ish动词词尾