cliff的词源

英文词源

cliff: cliff: [OE] Cliff comes from a prehistoric Germanic *kliban, of unknown origin (German klippe ‘crag’ is a collateral relative). The compound cliffhanger seems to have originated in the USA in the 1930s; it comes from the serial movies then popular, in which at the end of each episode the hero or heroine was left in some perilous situation, such as hanging off the edge of a cliff, not resolved until the next instalment.
cliff (n.): Old English clif "rock, promontory, steep slope," from Proto-Germanic *kliban (cognates: Old Saxon clif, Old Norse klif, Middle Dutch klippe, Dutch klip, Old High German klep, German Klippe "cliff, promontory, steep rock").

Clift has been a variant spelling since 15c. and was common in early Modern English, influenced by or merged with clift, a variant of cleft (n.). Cliff-dweller first attested 1889, American English.

词源同cleave,cleft.

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：cliff 词源，cliff 含义。

cleave（裂开）来自指“裂开，分开”的印欧语根，其同源词都包含“裂开”的根义，如clove（劈开）、kloof（峡谷）、cleft（裂缝）等；cliff可能同源，悬崖像是被直直裂开、劈开的一样；clever（聪明的），聪明的头脑就像锋利的刀具，削铁如泥，无坚不“分”。