escape

英文词源

escape

escape: [14] Originally, escape meant literally ‘take off one’s cloak’, and signified metaphorically ‘throw off restraint’ – much as we might say unbutton. The word appears to come ultimately from Vulgar Latin *excappāre, a hypothetical compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out, off’ and cappa ‘cloak’ (source of English cape). This passed into Old Northern French as escaper (immediate source of the English word), by which time the metaphor had progressed from ‘throwing off restraint’ to ‘gaining one’s liberty’.
=> cape

escape (v.)

c. 1300, transitive and intransitive, "free oneself from confinement; extricate oneself from trouble; get away safely by flight (from battle, an enemy, etc.)," from Old North French escaper, Old French eschaper (12c., Modern French échapper), from Vulgar Latin *excappare, literally "get out of one's cape, leave a pursuer with just one's cape," from Latin ex- "out of" (see ex-) + Late Latin cappa "mantle" (see cap (n.)). Mid-14c., of things, "get or keep out of a person's grasp, elude (notice, perception, attention, etc.);" late 14c. as "avoid experiencing or suffering (something), avoid physical contact with; avoid (a consequence)." Related: Escaped; escaping.

escape (n.)

c. 1400, "an act of escaping, action of escaping," also "a possibility of escape," from escape (v.) or from Old French eschap; earlier eschap (c. 1300). Mental/emotional sense is from 1853. From 1810 as "a means of escape." The contractual escape clause recorded by 1939.