nerve的词源

英文词源

nerve

nerve: [16] Latin nervus meant ‘sinew, bowstring’. It and its Greek relative neuron (source of English neural) may belong to a wider family of words that includes Latin nēre ‘spin’ (a relative of English needle) and possibly also English narrow, perhaps with a common meaning element. The application to ‘bundle of fibres carrying sensory or other impulses’ seems to have begun in Greek, but was soon adopted into the Latin word, and was brought with it into English.

Metaphorically, the Romans used nervus for ‘strength, force’, an application perhaps lying behind the English sense ‘courage’, first recorded in the early 19th century. The use of the plural nerves for ‘agitation, apprehension’ (and of the adjective nervous [14] for ‘apprehensive’) is an English development, which probably started in the mid- 18th century.
=> needle, neural

nerve (n.)

late 14c., nerf "sinew, tendon," from Old French nerf and directly from Medieval Latin nervus "nerve," from Latin nervus "sinew, tendon; cord, bowstring," metathesis of pre-Latin *neuros, from PIE *(s)neu- "tendon, sinew" (cognates: Sanskrit snavan- "band, sinew," Armenian neard "sinew," Greek neuron "sinew, tendon," in Galen "nerve"). Sense of "fibers that convey impulses between the brain and the body" is from c. 1600.

Secondary senses developed from meaning "strength, vigor, energy" (c. 1600), from the "sinew" sense. Hence figurative sense of "feeling, courage," first attested c. 1600; that of "courage, boldness" is from 1809; bad sense "impudence, cheek" is from 1887. Latin nervus also had a figurative sense of "vigor, force, power, strength," as did Greek neuron. From the neurological sense come Nerves "condition of nervousness," attested from 1792; to get on someone's nerves, from 1895. War of nerves "psychological warfare" is from 1915.

nerve (v.)

c. 1500, "to ornament with threads;" see nerve (n.). Meaning "to give strength or vigor" is from 1749. Related: Nerved; nerving.

中文词源

nerve：神经，神经质，勇气，气魄

来自拉丁语nervus,跟腱，肌筋，来自PIE*sneu,跟腱，肌筋，来自PIE*sne,缝制，编织，词源同needle,net.后用于指人体的筋脉，引申词义神经，神经质，勇气，气魄等。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：nerve 词源，nerve 含义。

nerve（神经）：作为人体活力来源的筋

人们常常将英语单词nerve翻译为“神经”，但在科学家发现“神经”之前，nerve表示什么呢？其实，nerve的本意与神经无关，而是表示人体内的“筋、肌腱”。古代希腊人和罗马人认为人体内的筋和肌腱是身体活力的来源，因此nerve还可以表示“活力”、“精力”，并进一步衍生出“勇气”之意。17世纪左右，科学家在人体内发现一种特别的纤维，可以传递信号。科学家以为这种纤维也是一种筋，因此同样将其称为nerve，其实这是人体神经细胞末端的细长纤维，跟筋或肌腱毫无关联。到了现代，nerve一词基本上专指“神经”，已经很少用来表示“筋”或“肌腱”。但在它的衍生词enervate（使失去活力）中，我们依然能看到它的本义。

nerve：[nɜːv] n. 神经；勇气；[植] 叶脉vt. 鼓起勇气

nervous：['nɝvəs] adj. 神经的；紧张不安的；强健有力的

nervy：['nɝvi] adj. 有勇气的；易激动的；紧张不安的

unnerve： [,ʌn'nɝv] vt. 使失去勇气；使身心交疲；使焦躁；使失常

enervate：['enəveɪt] vt. 使衰弱；使失去活力adj. 衰弱的；无力的

enervation：[,ɛnɚ'veʃən] n. 衰弱；虚弱；削弱；神经无力