英文词源
- prevaricate
- prevaricate: [16] Etymologically, prevaricate means ‘walk crookedly’, and it goes back ultimately to a Latin adjective meaning ‘knockkneed’, varus. From this was derived the verb vāricāre ‘straddle’, which was combined with the prefix prae- ‘before, beyond’ to produce praevāricārī ‘walk crookedly’, hence ‘deviate’. This developed in English to ‘deviate from straightforward behaviour’, hence ‘be evasive, equivocate’.
- prevaricate (v.)
- 1580s, "to transgress," a back formation from prevarication, or else from Latin praevaricatus, past participle of praevaricari "to make a sham accusation, deviate," literally "walk crookedly;" in Church Latin, "to transgress" (see prevarication). Meaning "to speak evasively" is from 1630s. Related: Prevaricated; prevaricating.
