topsy-turvy的词源

英文词源

topsy-turvy (adv.): 1520s, "but prob. in popular use from an earlier period" [OED]; compare top over terve "to fall over" (mid-15c.); likely from tops, plural of top (n.1) "highest point" + obsolete terve "turn upside down, topple over," from Old English tearflian "to roll over, overturn," from Proto-Germanic *terbanan (cognates: Old High German zerben "to turn round"). Century Dictionary calls it "A word which, owing to its popular nature, its alliterative type, and to ignorance of its origin, leading to various perversions made to suggest some plausible origin, has undergone, besides the usual variations of spelling, extraordinary modifications of form." It lists 31 variations. As an adjective from 1610s.

可能来自 tops,顶部，顶端，古词 terve,翻倒，推翻。引申词义混乱的，颠三倒四的等。

该词的英语词源请访问找单词词源英文版：topsy-turvy 词源，topsy-turvy 含义。