conundrum的词源

英文词源

conundrum: conundrum: [16] Conundrum originally appeared in all manner of weird and wonderful guises – conimbrum, conuncrum, quonundrum, connunder, etc – before settling down to conundrum in the late 18th century. It bears all the marks of one of the rather heavy-handed quasi-Latin joke words beloved of scholars in the 16th and 17th centuries, and a mid-17thcentury commentator attributed it to Oxford university. At first it meant ‘whim’ and then ‘pun’; the current sense ‘puzzling problem’ did not develop until the end of the 18th century.
conundrum (n.): 1590s, Oxford University slang for "pedant," also "whim," etc., later (1790) "riddle, puzzle." Also spelled quonundrum. The sort of ponderous pseudo-Latin word that was once the height of humor in learned circles.

牛津大学俚语，模仿拉丁词创造出来的假拉丁词，用以形容食古不化的学究，准确词源不详。可能来自PIE*kwo, 表疑问，衍生英语词汇how, who,what,which,why, quality, quantity.

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