metal

英文词源

metal

metal: [13] Greek métallon, a word of unknown origin, had a range of meanings, including ‘mine’ (the original sense) and ‘mineral’ as well as ‘metal’. These were carried over into Latin metallum, but by the time the word reached English, via Old French metal, ‘metal’ was all that was left. Mettle [16] is a variant spelling of metal, used to distinguish its metaphorical senses.

Closely related is medal [16], which etymologically means ‘something made of metal’. It comes via French médaille and Italian medaglia from a general Romance form *medallia. This was an alteration of Vulgar Latin *metallea, a derivative of Latin metallum. Medallion [17] goes back via French to Italian medaglione ‘large medal’.
=> medal, medallion

metal (n.)

mid-13c., from Old French metal "metal; material, substance, stuff" (12c.), from Latin metallum "metal; mine, quarry, mineral, what is got by mining," from Greek metallon "metal, ore" (senses only in post-classical texts; originally "mine, quarry, pit"), probably from metalleuein "to mine, to quarry," of unknown origin, but related somehow to metallan "to seek after." Compare Greek metalleutes "a miner," metalleia "a searching for metals, mining."

metal (adj.)

late 14c., from metal (n.).