continent的词源

英文词源

continent

continent: [14] Continent comes via Old French from Latin continēns, the present participle of continēre ‘hold together, enclose, contain’ (source of English contain). From the beginning it meant in general ‘exercising self-restraint’; of the more specific senses, ‘chaste’ developed in the 14th century and ‘able to retain urine and faeces’ apparently in the early 19th century.

The word’s noun use developed from the Latin phrase terra continēns ‘continuous land’ (for this sense of Latin continēre see CONTINUE). It was at first applied in the 16th century to any large continuous expanse of territory, and from the early 17th century specifically to any of the Earth’s major landmasses (the English use of ‘the Continent’ for mainland Europe is roughly contemporary with this).
=> contain, content, continue, countenance

continent (adj.)

late 14c., "self-restraining," from Old French continent and directly from Latin continentem (nominative continens) "holding together, continuous," present participle of continere "hold together" (see contain). Meaning moved from "exercising self-restraint" to "chaste" 14c., and to bowel and bladder control 19c.

continent (n.)

"large land mass," 1550s, from continent land (mid-15c.), translating Latin terra continens "continuous land," from continens, present participle of continere (see continent (adj.)).

中文词源

continent（洲）：连绵不断的陆地　　　

古代人缺乏地理知识，以为所有的大地都是连接在一起的，所以在拉丁语中将这个大地称为terra continens，翻译成英语就是continent land。英语单词continent就来自拉丁语continens，是continere（hold together，连接为一体）的现在分词，原本是一个形容词，表示“连绵不断的”或“自制的”之意。作名词的continent其实是continent land的缩略形式。与continent同源的英语单词还有contain（容纳）、continuous（连续的）等。

　　continent：['kɒntɪnənt] n.大陆，洲adj.自制的，克制的

continental：[kɒntɪ'nent(ə)l] adj.大陆的，大陆性的

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

continent：洲，大陆

con-, 强调。-tin, 持，握，词源同contain, tenable. 即一块未分割的土地，大陆。