flourish

英文詞源

flourish

flourish: [13] To flourish is etymologically to ‘flower’ – and indeed ‘come into flower, bloom’ is originally what the verb literally meant in English: ‘to smell the sweet savour of the vine when it flourisheth’, Geoffrey Chaucer, Parson’s Tale 1386. The metaphorical ‘thrive’ developed in the 14th century. The word comes from Old French floriss-, the stem of florir ‘bloom’, which goes back via Vulgar Latin *florīre to classical Latin florēre, a derivative of flōs ‘flower’.
=> flower

flourish (v.)

c. 1300, "to blossom, grow" (intransitive), from Old French floriss-, stem of florir "to blossom, flower, bloom; prosper, flourish," from Latin florere "to bloom, blossom, flower," figuratively "to flourish, be prosperous," from flos "a flower" (see flora). Metaphoric sense of "thrive" is mid-14c. in English. Transitive meaning "brandish (a weapon), hold in the hand and wave about" is from late 14c. Related: Flourished; flourishing.

flourish (n.)

c. 1500, "a blossom," from flourish (v.). Meaning "an ostentatious waving of a weapon" is from 1550s; that of "excessive literary or rhetorical embellishment" is from c. 1600; in reference to decorative curves in penmanship, 1650s; as "a fanfare of trumpets," 1590s.