英文词源
- impetuous
- impetuous: [14] Etymologically, impetuous means ‘having impetus’. It comes from Latin impetuōsus, a derivative of the noun impetus ‘attack’ (source of English impetus [17]), which in turn was based on impetere ‘attack’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘against’ and petere ‘go towards, seek, attack’ (source of English appetite, compete, perpetuate, petition, petulant, and repeat).
The etymological idea underlying both words is thus of ‘rushing towards something with great violence or aggression’. Another member of the same family is impetigo [16], the name of a sort of skin disease. This was borrowed from Latin impetīgō, whose medical meaning was a specialization of an earlier and much more general ‘attack’ (as in ‘an attack of eczema’).
=> appetite, compete, impetus, perpetuate, petulant, repeat - impetuous (adj.)
- late 14c., "hot-tempered, fierce," from Old French impetuos (13c.) and directly from Late Latin impetuosus "impetuous, violent," from Latin impetus "attack" (see impetus). Related: Impetuously; impetuousness.
