small

• adj.小さい; 弱々しい; ほとんど; 重要でない; 幼稚な
• adv.
• n. 小さい品物；小さい人
• n.(小)人名；(英)スモールズ

古英語のsmael「小さい、狭い、細い」から、原ゲルマン語*smalaz「小さい」、PIE*smal「小さい」から。関連するメタファーから派生。

small

small: [OE] Small comes from a prehistoric Germanic *smalaz, which in turn probably goes back ultimately to *smel-, a variant of the Indo- European base *mel- ‘grind’ (source of English meal, mill, etc). Etymologically, therefore, it could well denote ‘ground up into little bits’. Its Germanic relatives, such as German schmal and Dutch smal, have become specialized in meaning to ‘narrow’, but while English did start off down this semantic path, it has long since abandoned it.
=> meal, mill, molar

small (adj.)

Old English sm?l "thin, slender, narrow; fine," from Proto-Germanic *smal- "small animal; small" (cognates: Old Saxon, Danish, Swedish, Middle Dutch, Dutch, Old High German smal, Old Frisian smel, German schmal "narrow, slender," Gothic smalista "smallest," Old Norse smali "small cattle, sheep"), perhaps from a PIE root *(s)melo- "smaller animal" (cognates: Greek melon, Old Irish mil "a small animal;" Old Church Slavonic malu "bad"). Original sense of "narrow" now almost obsolete, except in reference to waistline and intestines.

My sister ... is as white as a lilly, and as small as a wand. [Shakespeare, "Two Gentlemen of Verona," 1591]

Sense of "not large, of little size" developed in Old English. Of children, "young," from mid-13c. Meaning "inferior in degree or amount" is from late 13c. Meaning "trivial, unimportant" is from mid-14c. Sense of "having little property or trade" is from 1746. That of "characterized by littleness of mind or spirit, base, low, mean" is from 1824. As an adverb by late 14c.

Small fry, first recorded 1690s of little fish, 1885 of insignificant people. Small potatoes "no great matter" first attested 1924; small change "something of little value" is from 1902; small talk "chit-chat, trifling conversation" (1751) first recorded in Chesterfield's "Letters." Small world as a comment upon an unexpected meeting of acquaintances is recorded from 1895. Small-arms, indicating those capable of being carried in the hand (contrasted to ordnance) is recorded from 1710.

small (n.)

early 13c., "small person or animal," from small (adj.). From c. 1300 as "persons of low rank" (opposed to great); late 15c. as "the small part" of something (such as small of the back, 1530s).

1. It 's not about Making the amazing saves.It 's the little things and small things that made great gatekeepers great.

偉大な門将は不思議な救出業績ではなく、小さなことや細部を重視して成功する。（ティム?ハワード米国代表GK）

毎日一言

2.Three prisoners were sharing one small cell 3 metres by 2 metres.

3人の囚人が長さ2メートルの幅3メートルの小さな牢屋に閉じ込められている。

3.Albania is a small nation state of around 3 million people.

アルバニアは人口約300万人の単一民族独立国家である。

4.The Inspector remembered her as a small ，mousy woman，invariably worried.

検事は、彼女は背が低く、内気で、いつもくよくよしている人だと覚えている。

5.No detail was too small to escape her attention.

どんな小さなディテールでも彼女の目からは逃げられない。