- nightingale
[nightingale 词源字典] - nightingale: [OE] The nightingale’s name, appropriately enough, means literally ‘nightsinger’. It represents a 13th-century alteration of an earlier nihtgale, which goes back to a prehistoric Germanic compound formed from *nakht ‘night’ and *galan ‘sing’ (a relative of English yell [OE] and possibly of gale). Related Germanic forms include German nachtigall, Dutch nachtegaal, Swedish näktergal, and Danish nattergal.
[nightingale etymology, nightingale origin, 英语词源] - nightingale (n.)
- Old English næctigalæ, nihtegale, compound formed in Proto-Germanic (cognates: Dutch nachtegaal, German Nachtigall) from *nakht- "night" (see night) + *galon "to sing," related to Old English giellan "yell" (see yell (v.)). With parasitic -n- that appeared mid-13c. Dutch nightingale "frog" is attested from 1769. In Japanese, "nightingale floor" is said to be the term for boards that creak when you walk on them.
French rossignol (Old French lousseignol) is, with Spanish ruiseñor, Portuguese rouxinol, Italian rosignuolo, from Vulgar Latin *rosciniola, dissimilated from Latin lusciniola "nightingale," diminutive of luscinia "nightingale."
