vegetable的词源

英文词源

vegetable

vegetable: [14] Latin vegēre meant ‘be active’ (it was formed from the same Indo-European base as lies behind English vigil, vigour, and wake). From it was derived vegetus ‘active’, which in turn formed the basis of vegetāre ‘enliven, animate’. From this again came late Latin vegetābilis ‘enlivening’, which came to be applied specifically to plant growth.

It was in this sense that the word entered English (via Old French vegetable), and it was not further narrowed down to ‘plant grown for food’ until the 18th century. Its semantic descent from its original links with ‘life, liveliness’ was completed in the early 20th century, when vegetable came to be used for an ‘inactive person’. The derivative vegetarian was formed in the early 1840s, and vegan was coined from this around 1944.
=> vigil, vigour, wake

vegetable (adj.)

early 15c., "capable of life or growth; growing, vigorous;" also "neither animal nor mineral, of the plant kingdom, living and growing as a plant," from Old French vegetable "living, fit to live," and directly from Medieval Latin vegetabilis "growing, flourishing," from Late Latin vegetabilis "animating, enlivening," from Latin vegetare "to enliven," from vegetus "vigorous, enlivened, active, sprightly," from vegere "to be alive, active, to quicken," from PIE *weg- (2) "be strong, lively," source of watch (v.), vigor, velocity, and possibly witch (see wake (v.)). The meaning "resembling that of a vegetable, dull, uneventful; having life such as a plant has" is attested from 1854 (see vegetable (n.)).

vegetable (n.)

mid-15c., "non-animal life," originally any plant, from vegetable (adj.); specific sense of "plant cultivated for food, edible herb or root" is first recorded 1767. Meaning "person who leads a monotonous life" is recorded from 1921; sense of "one totally incapacitated mentally and physically" is from 1976.

The Old English word was wyrt (see wort). The commonest source of words for vegetables in Indo-European languages are derivatives of words for "green" or "growing" (compare Italian, Spanish verdura, Irish glasraidh, Danish grøntsager). For a different association, compare Greek lakhana, related to lakhaino "to dig."

中文词源

vegetable（蔬菜）：能够生长的东西

英语单词vegetable在18世纪前指的是任何植物，而并非特指人类可以食用的“蔬菜”。它来自拉丁语vegetabilis，前半部分来自vegere（生长、活跃），字面意思就是“能够生长的”，用来区分“能够活动的”（即动物）和“不能生长的”（无生命物质）。vegetable原本表示任何植物，18世纪之后，词义缩小，用来表示可以食用的植物，即“蔬菜”。

vegetable：['vɛdʒtəbl] n.蔬菜，植物，植物人adj.蔬菜的，植物的

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

vegetable：植物，蔬菜，植物人

来自PIE*weg,有活力的，有生命的，词源同wake,vigilance,引申词义植物，蔬菜，俚语义植物人。

vegetable：蔬菜

词根词缀： -veget-活力 + -able形容词词尾

vegetable：蔬菜；植物人

蔬菜富含维生素，还含有人体所需的矿物质和纤维素，因此蔬菜是人体生长发育、维护健康、延长寿命不可或缺的食物。虽然古代欧洲人未必完全懂得这些道理，但他们知道这种作为食物的植物对维持生命的重要性。

英语用以表示“蔬菜”的vegetable一词借自古法语végétable，源自拉丁语vegetābilis，两个词就含有life-giving（维持生命的），animating（有生气的，充满活力的），capable of growth（能够生长的）等义。14世纪进入英语之时，vegetable只是作为形容词用，16世纪开始变为名词，用来指“植物”，后来词义缩小为“蔬菜”。在口语中，vegetable还可指“植物人”。

vegetable：植物，蔬菜，植物人

来自 PIE*weg,有活力的，有生命的，词源同 wake,vigilance.引申词义植物，蔬菜，俚语义植 物人。