vertical

英文词源

vertical

vertical: [16] Latin vertex originally meant ‘whirl’ (it was derived from vertere ‘turn’, source also of English verse, version, etc, and was itself borrowed into English in the 16th century). It came to be applied metaphorically to the ‘spiral of hair on top of the head’, and was then extended further to ‘highest point’. From it was derived late Latin verticālis, which passed into English via French vertical.

It originally denoted ‘of the highest point in the sky, the zenith’, and since this is directly overhead, by the 18th century vertical had come to be used for ‘perpendicular’. Also from vertere came Latin vertīgō ‘whirling’, borrowed into English as vertigo ‘dizziness’ [16].
=> verse

vertical (adj.)

1550s, "of or at the vertex, directly overhead," from Middle French vertical (1540s), from Late Latin verticalis "overhead," from Latin vertex (genitive verticis) "highest point" (see vertex). Meaning "straight up and down" is first recorded 1704. As a noun meaning "the vertical position or line" from 1834. Related: Vertically.