词源 |
maturity n.early 15c., maturite, "maturity of character;" mid-15c., "ripeness, completeness, full development," from Old French maturité and directly from Latin mātūritatem (nominative mātūritas) "ripeness," from mātūrus "ripe" (see mature (v.)). The word seems to have been reborrowed in early Modern English: [Y]et of them two springeth an excellent vertue, wherevnto we lacke a name in englyshe. Wherfore I am constrained to vsurpe a latin worde, callynge it Maturitie, whiche worde though it be strange and darke, yet by declaryng the vertue in a few mo wordes, the name ones brought in custome, shall be as easy to vnderstande as other wordes late comen out of Italy and Fraunce, and made denysens amonge vs. [Sir Thomas Elyot, "The Boke Named the Gouernour," 1531] The financial sense "time fixed for payment of an obligation" is by 1815. updated on March 08, 2023 |