英语词汇taboo的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

词汇	taboo
词源	taboo. The Friendly Islands (now Tonga) were visited by the great English explorer Captain James Cook in 1777. It is in Cook’s journals that we find the first recorded use of taboo for something banned or prohibited. Cook had taken it, altering the spelling a little, from the Tongan tabu, meaning the same. He later lost his life for violating a taboo, being murdered by natives in Hawaii. Etymologist Alfred Holt reported seeing a dead-end street in Honolulu in 1920 that, instead of reading Dead End, bore the sign TAPU.
随便看	don’t go to the bad for the shadow of an ass don’t have a clue don’t hurry hopkins don’t know him from adam don’t let money burn a hole in your pocket don’t like the cut of his jib don’t look a gift horse in the mouth don’t look back something might be gaining on you don’t look now don’t make two bites of a cherry don’t play games with me don’t poke one-s nose into it don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today don’t say it if you can grunt it don’t sell the steak sell the sizzle don’t stick your neck out don’t take any wooden nickels don’t that take the rag off the bush don’t want to pick up that snake now don’t wash your dirty linen in public don’t write it if you can say it doodlebug doo-doo doofus doolally

英语词源词典收录了13259条英语词源词条，基本涵盖了全部常用英语词汇的起源、历史，是研究英语词汇或通过词源学英语的必备工具。