circle

英文詞源

circle

circle: [14] Etymologically, a circle is a ‘small ring’. The word comes ultimately from Latin circus (source of course of English circus and of a host of circle-related words), whose diminutive form was circulus. This was actually borrowed into English in Old English times, as circul, but this died out. Modern English circle came via Old French cercle, and to begin with was thus spelled in English, but in the 16th century the Latin i was reintroduced. Latin derivatives include the adjective circulāris, source of English circular [15], and the verb circulāre, whose past participle gave English circulate [15].
=> circulate, circus, search

circle (n.)

c. 1300, "figure of a circle," from Old French cercle "circle, ring (for the finger); hoop of a helmet or barrel" (12c.), from Latin circulus "circular figure; small ring, hoop; circular orbit" (also source of Italian cerchio), diminutive of circus "ring" (see circus).

Replaced Old English trendel and hring. Late Old English used circul, from Latin, but only in an astronomical sense. Meaning "group of persons surrounding a center of interest" is from 1714 (it also was a secondary sense of Latin circulus); that of "coterie" is from 1640s (a sense also found in Latin circulus). To come full circle is in Shakespeare.

circle (v.)

late 14c., cerclen, "to shape like a globe," also "to encompass or surround," from circle (n.). From c. 1400 as "to set in a circular pattern;" mid-15c. as "to move in a circle." Related: Circled; circling. To circle the wagons, figuratively, "assume an alert defensive stance" is from 1969, from old Western movies.