汪榕培 英语词汇学
1.2.4. Etymological motivation Etymological motivation denotes that the origins of words often throw light on their meanings.E.g.: Pen originally refers to ‘a heavy quill or feather’. Today the writing tool is still
“pen”, but a meaning is not exactly the same as what it used to mean.
Proper nouns, once they become common nouns, can be explained by their origins only.