mastiff

英文词源

mastiff

mastiff: [14] Despite its rather fierce reputation, a mastiff may etymologically be a ‘tamed’ dog, a dog ‘accustomed to the hand’. The word seems to have come into the language as an alteration of Old French mastin, which was a descendant of the Vulgar Latin *mānsuētīnus ‘tame’. This in turn went back to Latin mānsuūtus, a compound adjective based on manus ‘hand’ and suēscere ‘accustom’.
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mastiff (n.)

large, powerful breed of dog, early 14c., from Old French mastin "great cur, mastiff" (Modern French mâtin) or Provençal mastis, both from Vulgar Latin *mansuetinus "domesticated, tame," from Latin mansuetus "tame, gentle" (see mansuetude). Probably originally meaning a dog that stays in the house, thus a guard-dog or watchdog. Form in English perhaps influenced by Old French mestif "mongrel."