crisscross

英文词源

crisscross

crisscross: [16] Crisscross is an alteration of Christscrosse, a term used from the 16th to 18th centuries for the figure of a cross (not specifically, as the name would seem to suggest, the crucifix). Gradually the original signification of the first syllable came to be lost, and the term fell into the pattern of reduplicated words (such as flipflop, singsong) in which a syllable is repeated with variation of the vowel. This may have contributed to the broadening of the word’s meaning to ‘pattern of repeated crossings’, which happened in the 19th century.

crisscross (v.)

1818, from Middle English crist(s)-crosse "Christ's cross" (late 15c.), earlier cros-kryst (late 14c.), "referring to the mark of a cross formerly written before the alphabet in hornbooks. The mark itself stood for the phrase Christ-cross me speed ('May Christ's cross give me success'), a formula said before reciting the alphabet" [Barnhart]. Used today without awareness of origin. As an adjective, 1846; as a noun, 1848.