vase | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

15 entries found.

late 14c., from Old French vas, vase "receptacle, container," from Latin vas (plural vasa) "container, vessel." American English preserves the original English pronunciation (Swift rhymes it with face, Byron with place and grace), while British English shifted mid-19c. to preference for a pronunciation that rhymes with bras.

burette (n.)

"small vessel for liquids," 1836, in chemistry, a precise measuring tube for laboratory work, from French burette "small vase, cruet," diminutive of buire "vase for liquors," in Old French "jug," variant of buie (12c.) "bottle, water jug," from Frankish *buk- or some similar Germanic source (see bucket (n.)).

kylix (n.)

"elegant cup or vase for drinking" (usually broad and shallow, with handles), 1873 (earlier in German), from Greek kylix "cup," which is similar to Latin calix "deep bowl, cup" (see chalice).

podium (n.)

1743, in architecture, "raised platform around an ancient arena" (upon which sat persons of distinction), also "projecting base of a pedestal," from Latin podium "raised platform," from Greek podion "foot of a vase," diminutive of pous (genitive podos) "foot," from PIE root *ped- "foot." Meaning "raised platform at the front of a hall or stage" is by 1947.

ossuary (n.)

"urn or vase for the bones of the dead;" also "place where bones of the dead are deposited," 1650s, from Late Latin ossuarium "charnel house, receptacle for bones of the dead," from neuter of Latin ossuarius "of bones," from Latin os (plural ossua) "bone" (from PIE root *ost- "bone") on model of mortuarium.

Canopic (adj.)

"of or pertaining to Canopus," the town in ancient lower Egypt (famous for its temple of Serapis), hence canopic jar, canopic vase, made there, with lids in the forms of human heads, which often held the entrails of embalmed bodies (1878).

amnion (n.)

innermost membrane around the embryo of a higher vertebrate (reptiles, birds, mammals), 1660s, Modern Latin, from Greek amnion "membrane around a fetus," originally "vase in which the blood of a sacrifice was caught," which is of unknown origin; sometimes said to be from ame "bucket," or a diminutive of amnos "lamb."

beaker (n.)

"open large-mouthed vessel," mid-14c., from Old Norse bikarr or Middle Dutch beker "goblet," probably (with Old Saxon bikeri, Old High German behhari, German Becher) from Medieval Latin bicarium, which is probably a diminutive of Greek bikos "earthenware jug, wine jar, vase with handles," also a measure, of uncertain origin. Sometimes said to be a Semitic word, perhaps a borrowing from Syrian buqa "a two-handed vase or jug," or from Egyptian b:k.t "oil flask." Form assimilated in English to beak. Originally a drinking vessel; the word is used from 1877 in reference to a similar glass vessel used in scientific laboratories.

O for a beaker full of the warm South,

Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,

And purple-stained mouth;

That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,

And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

[Keats, from "Ode to a Nightingale"]

angio-

before vowels angi-, word-forming element meaning "vessel of the body," now often "covered or enclosed by a seed or blood vessel," from Latinized form of Greek angeion "case, capsule, vessel of the body," diminutive of angos "vessel, jar, vat, vase," which is of unknown origin. Beekes says "Possibly a Mediterranean loanword ..., as kitchen utensils are often borrowed."

urn (n.)

late 14c., "large, rounded vase used to preserve the ashes of the dead," from Latin urna "a jar, vessel of baked clay, water-jar; vessel for the ashes of the dead" (also used as a ballot box and for drawing lots), probably from earlier *urc-na, akin to urceus "pitcher, jug," and from the same source as Greek hyrke "earthen vessel." But another theory connects it to Latin urere "to burn" (compare bust (n.1)).

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