英文词源
- bill
- bill: There are three distinct words bill in English (not counting the proper name), and of them all, the most recent is the commonest. Bill ‘note of charges’ [14] comes from Anglo-Latin billa, which is probably a variant of Latin bulla ‘_document, seal’ (as in ‘papal bull’). English billet [15], as in ‘billeting soldiers on a house’, was originally a diminutive form of billa (French billet ‘letter’ comes from the same source). Bill ‘hook-bladed weapon’ [OE], now found mainly in billhook, comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *bilja, which may be based ultimately on Indo-European *bhid-, source of English bite. Bill ‘beak’ [OE] may be related to bill ‘weapon’, but this is not clear.
The verbal sense ‘caress’, as in ‘bill and coo’, is 16th-century; it arose from the courting behaviour of doves stroking each other’s beaks.
=> billet - bill (n.1)
- "written statement," mid-14c., from Anglo-French bille, Anglo-Latin billa "list," from Medieval Latin bulla "decree, seal, sealed document," in classical Latin "bubble, boss, stud, amulet for the neck" (hence "seal;" see bull (n.2)). Sense of "account, invoice" first recorded c. 1400; that of "order to pay" (technically bill of exchange) is from 1570s; that of "paper money" is from 1660s. Meaning "draft of an act of Parliament" is from 1510s.
- bill (n.2)
- "bird's beak," Old English bill "bill, bird's beak," related to bill, a poetic word for a kind of sword (especially one with a hooked blade), from a common Germanic word for cutting or chopping weapons (compare Old High German bihal, Old Norse bilda "hatchet," Old Saxon bil "sword"), from PIE root *bheie- "to cut, to strike" (cognates: Armenian bir "cudgel," Greek phitos "block of wood," Old Church Slavonic biti "to strike," Old Irish biail "ax"). Used also in Middle English of beak-like projections of land (such as Portland Bill).
- bill (v.)
- "to send someone a bill of charge," 1864, from bill (n.1). Related: Billed; billing.
- bill (n.3)
- ancient weapon, Old English bill "sword (especially one with a hooked blade), chopping tool," common Germanic (compare Old Saxon bil "sword," Middle Dutch bile, Dutch bijl, Old High German bihal, German Beil, Old Norse bilda "hatchet." See bill (n.2).
中文词源
bill：帐单，法案，鸟喙
1.法案，词源同ball, 球，此处指小蜡球。指旧时官方文件通常用封蜡封印，代指官方文件。
2.鸟喙， 来自PIE *bheie, 砍，劈，可能同bite, boat.
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：bill 词源，bill 含义。
bill：帐单，钞票，议案 ．
bill 一词始见于14世纪，源自中世纪拉丁语butla的异体bilta。该拉丁词原义为“图章”、“印记”，后指“盖有图章、印记的公文或法令”，因此bill今天所用的多数词义，诸如“帐单”、“议案”、“钞票”、“单据”、“证明书”等均与此有联系。带bill的短语，诸如bill of lading（提货单），bill of sale（卖契），bill of health（检疫证书）等均含有“盖有印章的”或“署了名的”的含义。另有两个词bull（教皇诏书）和bulletin（布告，公告）也源于拉丁语bulla。教皇诏书和布告均属公文，与图章和印记自然有密切的联系。其实英语还直接借用了bulla一词，用以专指“（教皇等的）玺”。
bill：账单；清单；招贴，广告；钞票；议案，法案
来源于盎格鲁-拉丁语billa。