very

英文詞源

very

very: [13] Latin vērus meant ‘true’ (it came ultimately from Indo-European *wēros, source also of German wahr ‘true’, and it has also given English verdict, verify [14], verisimilitude [17], and veritable [15]). From it was derived Vulgar Latin *vērāius, which passed into English via Old French verai. Very was originally exclusively an adjective, meaning ‘true’. It was not used as an adverb, meaning ‘truly’, until the 14th century, and its modern role as an intensifier did not begin to emerge until the 15th century.
=> verdict, verify

very (adj.)

late 13c., verray "true, real, genuine," later "actual, sheer" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French verrai, Old French verai "true, truthful, sincere; right, just, legal," from Vulgar Latin *veracus, from Latin verax (genitive veracis) "truthful," from verus "true" (source also of Italian vero), from PIE root *were-o- "true, trustworthy" (cognates: Old English w?r "a compact," Old Dutch, Old High German war, Dutch waar, German wahr "true;" Welsh gwyr, Old Irish fir "true;" Old Church Slavonic vera "faith," Russian viera "faith, belief"). Meaning "greatly, extremely" is first recorded mid-15c. Used as a pure intensive since Middle English.