nightingale的词源

英文词源

nightingale

nightingale: [OE] The nightingale’s name, appropriately enough, means literally ‘nightsinger’. It represents a 13th-century alteration of an earlier nihtgale, which goes back to a prehistoric Germanic compound formed from *nakht ‘night’ and *galan ‘sing’ (a relative of English yell [OE] and possibly of gale). Related Germanic forms include German nachtigall, Dutch nachtegaal, Swedish näktergal, and Danish nattergal.

nightingale (n.)

Old English næctigalæ, nihtegale, compound formed in Proto-Germanic (cognates: Dutch nachtegaal, German Nachtigall) from *nakht- "night" (see night) + *galon "to sing," related to Old English giellan "yell" (see yell (v.)). With parasitic -n- that appeared mid-13c. Dutch nightingale "frog" is attested from 1769. In Japanese, "nightingale floor" is said to be the term for boards that creak when you walk on them.

French rossignol (Old French lousseignol) is, with Spanish ruiseñor, Portuguese rouxinol, Italian rosignuolo, from Vulgar Latin *rosciniola, dissimilated from Latin lusciniola "nightingale," diminutive of luscinia "nightingale."

中文词源

nightingale（夜莺）：夜晚唱歌的鸟　　　

夜莺属于雀形目鹟科，鸣唱出众，音域极广，是少有的夜间鸣叫的鸟类，故此得名“夜莺”。无独有偶，在英语中，表示“夜莺”的单词nightingale也是“夜间唱歌”的意思。它来自古英语，由night（夜晚） in（连接成分） gale（唱歌）构成，字面意思就是“夜间唱歌”。其中，gale来自古英语galon（唱歌），与giellan（yell，叫喊）有关。

　　nightingale：['naɪtn,gel] n.夜莺

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

nightingale：夜莺

night,夜晚，-gale,唱，词源同yell.用来指夜莺。