c. 1200, daungerous, "difficult to deal with, arrogant, severe" (the opposite of affable), from Anglo-French dangerous, Old French dangeros (12c., Modern French dangereux), from danger "power, power to harm, mastery, authority, control" (see danger).
In Chaucer, it can mean "hard to please; reluctant to give; overbearing." The modern sense of "involving danger, hazardous, unsafe, risky, liable to inflict injury or harm" is from c. 1400. Other words formerly used in this sense included dangersome (1560s), dangerful (1540s). Related: Dangerously.
plant of the mint family, late 14c., from Old French thym, tym (13c.) and directly from Latin thymum, from Greek thymon, which had been derived from PIE root *dheu- (1), base of words meaning "smoke," for its scent or from being burned as a sacrifice, but Beekes finds this "doubtful" and suggests that "As a local plant name, the word is liable to be of Pre-Greek origin." Related: Thymic.
"of or pertaining to the study of language," 1824, from German linguistisch (1807); see linguist + -ic. The use of linguistic to mean "of or pertaining to language or languages" (1847) is "hardly justifiable etymologically," according to OED, but "has arisen because lingual suggests irrelevant associations." Related: Linguistical; linguistically.
To the science which may be formed by comparing languages, the term Linguistic has been applied by some German authors. It is not, however, generally adopted, and is liable to some objections. ["Biblical Repository," vol. vii, no. 21, Jan. 1836]
"able to be set alight," c. 1600, from French inflammable, from Medieval Latin inflammabilis, from Latin inflammare "to set on fire" (see inflame).Since 1980s use of the word, especially in safety warnings, has been sometimes discouraged for fear it could be misunderstood as meaning "non-flammable" through confusion of the two prefixes in-. The word was used earlier in medicine in the sense "liable to inflammation" (early 15c.). Related: Inflammability.
early 15c., proscriben, "write before or in front, prefix," from Latin proscribere "publish in writing" (literally "write in front of"), including "publish as having forfeited one's property; condemn, outlaw before the world," from pro "before" (see pro-) + scribere "to write" (from PIE root *skribh- "to cut").
From mid-15c. as "to exile, put out of the protection of the law" (implied in proscribed). By 1550s as "publish the name of as condemned to death and liable to confiscation of property." The meaning "denounce and prohibit (something) as wrong or dangerous" is recorded by 1620s.
1590s, "affecting the emotions or affections, moving, stirring" (now obsolete in this broad sense), from French pathétique "moving, stirring, affecting" (16c.), from Late Latin patheticus, from Greek pathetikos "subject to feeling, sensitive, capable of emotion," from pathetos "liable to suffer," verbal adjective of pathein "to suffer" (from PIE root *kwent(h)- "to suffer").
The specific meaning "arousing pity, sorrow, or grief" or other tender feelings is from 1737. The colloquial sense of "so miserable as to be ridiculous" is attested by 1937. Related: Pathetical (1570s); pathetically. The pathetic fallacy (1856, first used by Ruskin) is the attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects.
[European crow], Middle English roke, from Old English hroc, from Proto-Germanic *khrokaz (source also of Old Norse hrokr, Middle Dutch roec, Dutch roek, Middle Swedish roka, Old High German hruoh "crow"), probably imitative of its raucous voice. Compare crow (n.), also Gaelic roc "croak," Sanskrit kruc "to cry out." Used as a disparaging term for persons at least since c. 1500, and extended by 1570s to mean "a cheat," especially at cards or dice, also, later "a simpleton, a gull, one liable to be cheated" (1590s). For sense, compare gull (n.2).
"withering, liable to decay, ephemeral," 1727, from Latin marcescentem (nominative marcescens), present participle of marcescere "to wither, languish, droop, decay, pine away," inchoative of marcere "to wither, droop, be faint," from Proto-Italic *mark-e-, from PIE root *merk- "to decay" (source also of Sanskrit marka- "destruction, death;" Avestan mareka- "ruin;" Lithuanian mirkti "become weak," merkti "to soak;" Ukrainian dialect morokva "quagmire, swamp," Middle High German meren "dip bread into water or wine," perhaps also Middle Irish mraich, Welsh brag "a sprouting out; malt").
