corsair的词源

英文词源

corsair: corsair: [15] Etymologically, a corsair is someone who goes on a ‘course’. Latin cursus (source of English course) was a derivative of Latin currere ‘run’, and meant originally a ‘run’. From this it developed to ‘journey’ and ‘expedition’ to ‘hostile or predatory expedition’, and eventually to the proceeds of such a raid, the ‘plunder’ or ‘booty’. In medieval Latin the term cursārius was derived from it to denote someone who took part in such raids, and this passed into English via Old Italian corsaro, Provençal corsari, and Old French corsaire.
=> course, hussar
corsair (n.): 1540s, from Middle French corsaire (15c.), from Provençal cursar, Italian corsaro, from Medieval Latin cursarius "pirate," from Latin cursus "course, a running," from currere "to run" (see current (adj.)). Meaning of the Medieval Latin verb evolved from "course" to "journey" to "expedition" to an expedition specifically for plunder.

词根cors指“跑”，变体有cours、cor、cur等，不过万变不离其宗，同源词如car（汽车）、course（路线）、cursor（光标）、current（流通的）等；-air为后缀；后面的-sair音似单词sail（航海），可联想串记，这样字面义可看成“乘船到处跑（的人）”。

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