help

英文词源

help

help: [OE] Today, help is essentially a Germanic word. Related forms such as German helfen, Dutch helpen, Swedish hjälpa, and Danish hjælpe point to a Germanic ancestor *khelp-. But there is one clue – Lithuanian shélpti ‘help, support’ – that suggests that formerly it may have been much more widespread throughout the Indo-European languages, and came from an Indo-European source *kelp-.

help (v.)

Old English helpan (class III strong verb; past tense healp, past participle holpen) "help, support, succor; benefit, do good to; cure, amend," from Proto-Germanic *helpan (cognates: Old Norse hjalpa, Old Frisian helpa, Middle Dutch and Dutch helpen, Old High German helfan, German helfen), from PIE root *kelb- "to help" (cognates: Lithuanian selpiu "to support, help").

Recorded as a cry of distress from late 14c. Sense of "serve someone with food at table" (1680s) is translated from French servir "to help, stead, avail," and led to helping "portion of food." Related: Helped (c. 1300). The Middle English past participle holpen survives in biblical and U.S. dialectal use.

help (n.)

Old English help (m.), helpe (f.) "assistance, succor;" see help (v.). Most Germanic languages also have the noun form, such as Old Norse hjalp, Swedish hjälp, Old Frisian helpe, Dutch hulp, Old High German helfa, German Hilfe. Use of help as euphemism for "servant" is American English, 1640s, tied up in notions of class and race.

A domestic servant of American birth, and without negro blood in his or her veins ... is not a servant, but a 'help.' 'Help wanted,' is the common heading of advertisements in the North, when servants are required. [Chas. Mackay, "Life and Liberty in America," 1859].

Though help also meant "assistant, helper, supporter" in Middle English (c. 1200).