英语词汇quail的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

quail. To quail, “to cower, to lose heart in danger or difficul- ty,” is of no relation etymologically to the bird called a quail. Of uncertain origin, it may come from the Middle English fael, meaning the same, or from the Latin coagulare, “to cur- dle,” which also gives us coagulate. Quail has been American slang for a sexually attractive girl since the mid-19th century and may derive from the Celtic caile, “a girl.” However, quail meant a harlot or courtesan in the 16th and 17th centuries, be- cause of the bird’s supposed “inordinately amorous disposi- tion.” The term was used by Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressi- da. The Bard would have liked the alliterative San Quentin quail: a U.S. slang term of the 1930s meaning a sexually attrac- tive but underage girl, one who is jailbait for any man who consorts with her, who can put a man in San Quentin prison. The bird’s name quail is probably of Teutonic derivation and imitative origin.

词汇	quail
词源	quail. To quail, “to cower, to lose heart in danger or difficul- ty,” is of no relation etymologically to the bird called a quail. Of uncertain origin, it may come from the Middle English fael, meaning the same, or from the Latin coagulare, “to cur- dle,” which also gives us coagulate. Quail has been American slang for a sexually attractive girl since the mid-19th century and may derive from the Celtic caile, “a girl.” However, quail meant a harlot or courtesan in the 16th and 17th centuries, be- cause of the bird’s supposed “inordinately amorous disposi- tion.” The term was used by Shakespeare in Troilus and Cressi- da. The Bard would have liked the alliterative San Quentin quail: a U.S. slang term of the 1930s meaning a sexually attrac- tive but underage girl, one who is jailbait for any man who consorts with her, who can put a man in San Quentin prison. The bird’s name quail is probably of Teutonic derivation and imitative origin.
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