loft

英文詞源

loft

loft: [OE] The notion underlying loft is of being ‘high up in the air’ – and indeed originally loft, like its close German relative luft, meant ‘air’. Not until the 13th century do we find it being used in English for ‘upper room’ (although in fact its source, Old Norse lopt, had both meanings). All these words go back to a common ancestor, prehistoric Germanic *luftuz ‘air, sky’. From this was derived a verb *luftjan, which, again via Old Norse, has given English lift [13] (the use of the derived noun for an ‘elevator’, incidentally, dates from the mid 19th century).
=> lift

loft (v.)

"to hit a ball high in the air," 1856, originally in golf, from loft (n.). Related: Lofted; lofting. An earlier sense was "to put a loft on" (a building), 1560s; also "to store (goods) in a loft" (1510s).

loft (n.)

"an upper chamber," c. 1300, from late Old English loft "the sky; the sphere of the air," from Old Norse lopt "air, sky," originally "upper story, loft, attic" (Scandinavian -pt- pronounced like -ft-), from Proto-Germanic *luftuz "air, sky" (cognates: Old English lyft, Dutch lucht, Old High German luft, German Luft, Gothic luftus "air").

Sense development is from "loft, ceiling" to "sky, air." Buck suggests ultimate connection with Old High German louft "bark," louba "roof, attic," etc., with development from "bark" to "roof made of bark" to "ceiling," though this did not directly inform the meaning "air, sky." But Watkins says this is "probably a separate Germanic root." Meaning "gallery in a church" first attested c. 1500.