moderate

英文词源

moderate

moderate: [14] Latin moderārī or moderāre meant ‘reduce, control’. They were derived from an unrecorded *modes- (source also of modest), which was related to modus ‘measure’ (source of English mode and model), and hence denoted etymologically ‘keep within due measure’. Their past participle moderātus was taken over by English as an adjective, and converted into a verb in the 15th century.
=> mode, model, modern, modest

moderate (adj.)

late 14c., originally of weather and other physical conditions, from Latin moderatus "within bounds, observing moderation;" figuratively "modest, restrained," past participle of moderari "to regulate, mitigate, restrain, temper, set a measure, keep (something) within measure," related to modus "measure," from PIE *med-es-, from base *med- (see medical (adj.)). The notion is "keeping within due measure." In English, of persons from early 15c.; of opinions from 1640s; of prices from 1904. Related: Moderateness.

moderate (v.)

early 15c., "to abate excessiveness;" from Latin moderatus, past participle of moderari (see moderate (adj.)). Meaning "to preside over a debate" is first attested 1570s. Related: Moderated; moderating.

moderate (n.)

"one who holds moderate opinions on controversial subjects," 1794, from moderate (adj.). Related: Moderatism; -moderantism.