释义 |
baboonn.Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French babewene, babouyn. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman babewene, babeweine, babiwene, baboen, baboin, babwyn, babwine and Middle French babouyn, baboyn, babuin (French babouin ) foolish or stupid person (a1225 in Old French), representation of a grotesque figure or monster, esp. in architecture (13th cent.), monkey characterized by prominent lips (mid 13th cent.) < an imitative base *bab- (see note below) which is in turn < the (reduplicated) syllable /ba/, characteristic of early infantile vocalization (and expressive of the movement of the lips in speech), whence also babble v.1, babe n., baby n., etc. The β. forms show remodelling of the ending after -oon suffix, the form babound additionally shows an excrescent -d . The French noun was also borrowed into other European languages; compare post-classical Latin babewynus (from 1295 in British and continental sources; also in forms babouinus , baboynus , babuynus ; > post-classical Latin babuinare to paint marginal figures in manuscripts (13th cent.)), Italian babbuino (end of the 13th cent. as †babuino in sense ‘ugly person’, a1367 denoting the monkey); also Middle Dutch baubijn , bobijn , babuin (second half of the 15th cent.), and (with alteration after Dutch nouns ending in -aan , e.g. roffiaen , roffiaan ruffian n.) Dutch baviaan (1573 as †baviaen ; also 1616 as †babiaen ), and also (all ultimately via Dutch) Middle Low German baviān , German Pavian (although this is apparently first attested earlier than its closest Dutch formal parallels: 1476 as †bavian ), (perhaps via German) Swedish babian (1667; also 1682 as †bavian ), all of which denote any of several ground-dwelling monkeys with a short tail, also (figurative) a foolish, stupid, or contemptuous person. Compare later babion n.The imitative base *bab- is also found in other formations in French, e.g. Old French, Middle French, French babiller (see babble v.1, and compare forms from other languages cited at that entry), Middle French, French babine thick lip of a cow, dog, or monkey (c1460), Middle French baboe , baboue grimace (see below; also babau , baboy , baboye , babouye ; French (now regional: Walloon) baboue ); compare also Catalan babau naive, gullible person (14th cent.). Although post-classical Latin papio (see papion n.) has also been compared, and now serves (in scientific Latin) as the genus name of the monkey, it is unclear whether it is etymologically related. With sense 1 compare post-classical Latin babon- , babo , in same sense (1404 in a British source):c1404 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1836) I. 317 Ciphus deauratus..ad externum per totum de aquilis, leonibus, coronis, et aliis babonibus. It is uncertain whether the following earlier quot. shows the Middle English, the post-classical Latin, or the Anglo-Norman word (in sense 1):1330 Inventory in Archaeologia (1792) 10 247 Salare arg' aymell' per totum de diversis babewynis & oiselettis. The following quot. apparently shows a vernacular word (with variant spellings in different witnesses) occurring in a Latin context, apparently in the sense ‘gargoyle’; if Middle English, this may show a borrowing < Middle French baboe, baboue ‘grimace’ (c1420; earlier in uncertain sense in ordre de la baboe, the name of an order of heavy drinkers (late 14th cent.); < the same base as babouin):a1450 in Ess. & Stud. in Honor of C. Brown (1940) 150 Sicut vbi pictores formant aliquas ymagines qui dicuntur Babeweis [v.rr. babways, babaues] in parietibus; aliquos enim illorum formant cum facie hominis et cum corpore leonis [etc.]. society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > gargoyles or grotesques c1400 (?c1380) (1920) l. 1409 Lyfte logges þerover and on lofte corven, Pared out of paper and poynted of golde, Broþe baboynes abof, besttes anunder. c1425 J. Lydgate (Augustus A.iv) ii. l. 654 Þe korve knottes by crafte of masounry, Þe fresche enbowyng, with vergis riȝt as linys, And þe vowsyng [a1475 Arun. housing] ful of babewynes [MS bakewynes; a1475 Digby 230 bake vynys]. 1949 J. G. Evans iii. 47 The western wall had a series of pinnacled canopies surmounted by a frieze of shields interspersed with babewyns. 1998 M. Camille i. 77 Two knights stand adjacent to the framed text on the page as part of the strict order of rule, while the monstrous babewyns are relegated to the outer edges. the world > animals > mammals > order Primates > suborder Anthropoidea (higher primates) > [noun] > group Catarrhinae (Old World monkey) > family Cercopithecidae > genus Papio (baboon) ?a1425 (c1400) (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 137 Apes, Marmozettes Babewynes & many oþer dyuerse bestes. 1481 W. Caxton tr. (1970) 92 I wende hit had be a mermoyse, a baubyn or a mercatte. 1530 J. Palsgrave 196/1 Babwyne beest, baboyn. 1612 B. Jonson v. i. sig. L2 For Babouns, or Puppets. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. i. 37 Coole it with a Baboones blood. View more context for this quotation 1667 G. Warren 11 The inhabitants of the trees are Baboons, Quottoes, Monkeys [etc.]. 1748 T. Smollett II. lviii. 240 A noise like that of a baboon when he mows and chatters. 1771 T. Pennant 122 Preacher. Guariba... Howling Baboon. 1827 E. Griffith et al. V. 16 Silenus (the Ouanderou)... Lion-tailed baboon... Nil-bundar of Hindus. 1834 II. 144 We say that an ape is a monkey without a tail, and a baboon a monkey with a short tail, reserving the term monkey more particularly for those species which have very long tails; and though our early writers use these three words indiscriminately..yet the significations here given have generally prevailed since the time of Ray, and are now exclusively adopted. 1878 1 A Family of Gelada Baboons. 1910 J. Buchan iv. 73 I thought it was an aasvogel, but another thought it was a baboon. 1936 ‘P. Quentin’ xx. 181 I get no kick out of the sex-life of the white-tailed baboon. 2007 D. S. Wilson xxi. 163 A low-ranking male named Jomeo pirated a baby bush pig that had been captured by baboons. the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > as abused the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > condition of being held in contempt > [noun] > state or quality of being contemptible > contemptible person 1592 T. Nashe (Brit. Libr. copy) sig. F2 v Is it anie discredit for me, thou great Baboune,..to bee censured by thee. 1628 G. Wither i. 977 Such Apes, and such Baboones, As Parasites, and impudent Buffoones. 1678 W. Wycherley (ed. 2) ii. i. 25 No chattering, Baboons, instantly be gone. 1695 (single sheet) He then began to storm, crys Fool, Fanatick, Baboon! a1713 A. Pitcairne (1722) ii. i. 26 Must I give you Money ye Caterwouling obstreperous Villains, Baboons, to People who cannot play, go all of you. 1788 R. Galloway 23 Many a braw baboon we see..Until their noddle turn them ree. 1805 W. Godwin II. xii. 157 This repulsive baboon however, soon conceived the plan of robbing his benefactor of his only child. 1859 M. J. Holmes viii. 61 A perfect bore—a baboon, with more hair than brains. 1903 S. Crane & R. Barr ii. 24 ‘Paddy, you baboon,’ said I, ‘be quiet and don't be making yourself a laughing-stock for the whole of them.’ 1962 V. Nabokov 55 Morning finds us marching to the wall Under the direction of some goon Political, some uniformed baboon. 2002 M. T. Sullivan 98 ‘You're going to be..on the world's most widely watched news show.’ Cricket shrugged. ‘I'll probably make a total baboon of myself.’ Compounds the world > animals > birds > unspecified and miscellaneous birds > [noun] > miscellaneous 1883 E. F. Im Thurn 116 The bird (Threnœdus Militaris) called in the colony baboon-bird from the resemblance of its deep note to the ‘baboon’ or red howling monkey. 1900 22 37 Sigmodus Caniceps... Known to English-speaking Liberians as ‘Baboon bird’. 1881 C. D. Dance 93 The large thick hairy spiders are, when black, called ‘cuata’, and the red kinds ‘baboon spiders’. 1963 S. H. Skaife 76 A large black baboon spider,..a big hairy brute with fangs nearly a quarter of an inch long and a spread of legs that would almost cover the palm of the hand. 2008 tr. B. C. Tørrissen 219 I've learned that the baboon spider can bite through shoes and inflict paralysis upon people. Derivatives 1689 E. Hickeringill Concl. 67 It is a very honest Confession; but is this Man-like, or Baboon-like? 1869 A. R. Wallace I. xviii. 432 Cynopithecus nigrescens, a curious baboon-like monkey. 2003 75 492 Estimates of australopithecine sexual dimorphism range from gorilla- and orang-like values to baboon-like values. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.c1400 |