horn

英文词源

horn

horn: [OE] Horn belongs to a very large Indo- European word-family that has made an enormous number of contributions to English. Its ultimate source is Indo-European *ker-, whose offspring predominantly denote ‘animal’s horn’, but also include words for ‘top’ and ‘head’. Its Germanic descendant, *khornaz, has not been that prolific (it has produced English, German, Swedish, and Danish horn and Dutch hoorn, and hornet is probably a derivative), but other branches of the family have been more fruitful sources.

From Latin cornū ‘horn’, for example, come English corn ‘hard skin’, cornea, corner, cornet, cornucopia, unicorn, and possibly scherzo and scorn; Greek kéras ‘horn’ has given English keratin, rhinoceros, and triceratops; while Sanskrit śrngam ‘horn’ lies behind English ginger.

And besides these, English hart ‘male deer’ [OE] goes back to a derivative of *ker-.
=> corn, corner, cornet, ginger, hart, hornet, keratin, rhinoceros, triceratops

horn (n.)

Old English horn "horn of an animal," also "wind instrument" (originally made from animal horns), from Proto-Germanic *hurnaz (cognates: German Horn, Dutch horen, Gothic haurn), from PIE *ker- (1) "horn; head, uppermost part of the body," with derivatives refering to horned animals, horn-shaped objects and projecting parts (cognates: Greek karnon "horn," Latin cornu "horn," Sanskrit srngam "horn," Persian sar "head," Avestan sarah- "head," Greek koryphe "head," Latin cervus "deer," Welsh carw "deer"). Reference to car horns is first recorded 1901. Figurative senses of Latin cornu included "salient point, chief argument; wing, flank; power, courage, strength." Jazz slang sense of "trumpet" is by 1921. Meaning "telephone" is by 1945.

horn (v.)

1690s, "to furnish with horns," from horn (n.). Earlier in figurative sense of "to cuckold" (1540s). Meaning "to push with the horns" (of cattle, buffalo, etc.) is from 1851, American English; phrase horn in "intrude" is by 1880, American English, originally cowboy slang.