object

英文詞源

object

object: Object the noun [14] and object the verb [15] have diverged considerably over the centuries, but they come from the same ultimate source: Latin obicere. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix ob- ‘towards’ and jacere ‘throw’ (source of English ejaculate, inject, subject, etc), and hence originally meant literally ‘throw towards’, but by classical times it had been extended metaphorically to ‘place a hindrance in the way of, oppose’.

This was the strand of the word’s meaning taken up by English in the verb object, and also originally in the noun (‘how Christ answered to objects [that is, objections] of false Jews’, John Wycliffe 1380). The standard present-day meaning of the noun, however, comes from a post-classical meaning of Latin objectum (the noun formed from the past participle of obicere): ‘something put in someone’s way so that it can be seen’, hence a ‘visible object’.
=> ejaculate, inject, jet, subject

object (n.)

late 14c., "tangible thing, something perceived or presented to the senses," from Medieval Latin objectum "thing put before" (the mind or sight), noun use of neuter of Latin obiectus "lying before, opposite" (as a noun in classical Latin, "charges, accusations"), past participle of obicere "to present, oppose, cast in the way of," from ob "against" (see ob-) + iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Sense of "thing aimed at" is late 14c. No object "not a thing regarded as important" is from 1782. As an adjective, "presented to the senses," from late 14c. Object lesson "instruction conveyed by examination of a material object" is from 1831.

object (v.)

c. 1400, "to bring forward in opposition," from Old French objecter and directly from Latin obiectus, past participle of obiectare "to cite as grounds for disapproval, set against, oppose," literally "to put or throw before or against," frequentative of obicere (see object (n.)). Related: Objected; objecting.