mischief的词源
英文词源
- mischief
- mischief: [13] Etymologically, mischief is something that ‘happens amiss’. The word comes from Old French meschef, a derivative of the verb meschever ‘meet with misfortune’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix mis- ‘wrongly, amiss’ and chever ‘happen’ (which came ultimately from Latin caput ‘head’, and etymologically meant ‘come to a head’). It still meant ‘misfortune’ when English acquired it; in the 14th century the sense ‘harm, damage’ emerged, but the more trivial modern sense ‘naughtiness’ did not develop until the 18th century.
- mischief (n.)
- c. 1300, "evil condition, misfortune, need, want," from Old French meschief "misfortune, harm, trouble; annoyance, vexation" (12c., Modern French méchef), verbal noun from meschever "come or bring to grief, be unfortunate" (opposite of achieve), from mes- "badly" (see mis- (2)) + chever "happen, come to a head," from Vulgar Latin *capare "head," from Latin caput "head" (see capitulum). Meaning "harm or evil considered as the work of some agent or due to some cause" is from late 15c. Sense of "playful malice" first recorded 1784.
Mischief Night in 19c. England was the eve of May Day and of Nov. 5, both major holidays, and perhaps the original point was pilfering for the next day's celebration and bonfire; but in Yorkshire, Scotland, and Ireland the night was Halloween. The useful Middle English verb mischieve (early 14c.) has, for some reason, fallen from currency.
中文词源
mis-,坏的，错的，不好的，-chief,头，词源同captain,chief.此处用于比喻义发生，露头，即坏事发生的苗头，不幸，厄运，恶意，伤害。后词义弱化为指小孩淘气，恶作剧。
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：mischief 词源，mischief 含义。
