impeach

英文词源

impeach

impeach: [14] Impeach has nothing to do with peaches. In fact it is closely related to impede, and indeed originally meant ‘impede’ in English. Both verbs comes ultimately from Latin pēs ‘foot’. Impede [17] goes back to Latin impedīre, a compound verb based on pēs which originally meant literally ‘tie the feet together’. Impeach, on the other hand, comes via Old French empecher (ancestor of modern French empêcher) from late Latin impedicāre ‘fetter, entangle, ensnare’, a compound verb based on the noun pedica ‘fetter’, which itself came from the same base as pēs.

Its original meaning ‘impede, prevent’ survived in English until the late 17th century (‘a Ditch of sufficient breadth, and depth, to impeach the Assaults of an Enemy’, William Leybourn. Cursus Mathematicus 1690). Its use for ‘charge, accuse’ arose in the 14th century from an erroneous association with Latin impetere ‘attack, accuse’ (source of English impetuous).
=> foot, impede, pedal

impeach (v.)

late 14c., "to impede, hinder, prevent," from Anglo-French empecher, Old French empeechier "hinder" (12c., Modern French empêcher), from Late Latin impedicare "to fetter, catch, entangle," from assimilated form of in- "into, in" (see in- (2)) + Latin pedica "shackle," from pes (genitive pedis) "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)). Sense of "accuse a public officer of misconduct" first recorded 1560s, perhaps via confusion with Latin impetere "attack, accuse." Related: Impeached; impeaching.