- pedigree
[pedigree 词源字典] - pedigree: [15] Etymologically, pedigree means ‘crane’s-foot’. It comes from Anglo-Norman *pe de gru, pe meaning ‘foot’ (from Latin pēs) and gru ‘crane’ (from Latin grūs). The notion behind the metaphor is that a bird’s foot, with its three splayed-out toes, resembles the branching lines drawn to illustrate a family tree.
=> crane, geranium[pedigree etymology, pedigree origin, 英语词源] - pedigree (n.)
- early 15c., "genealogical table or chart," from Anglo-French pe de gru, a variant of Old French pied de gru "foot of a crane," from Latin pedem accusative of pes "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)) + gruem (nominative grus) "crane," cognate with Greek geranos, Old English cran; see crane (n.)).
On old manuscripts, "descent" was indicated by a forked sign resembling the branching lines of a genealogical chart; the sign also happened to look like a bird's footprint. Form influenced in Middle English by association with degree. Meaning "ancestral line" is mid-15c.; of animals, c. 1600. Related: Pedigreed.
