goal: [16] The earliest examples of what can confidently be identified as the word goal come from the first half of the 16th century, when it was used for both the ‘finishing line of a race’ and the ‘posts through which the ball is sent in football’. Before that we are in the realm of speculation. A 14th-century text from Kent has the word gol ‘boundary’, which could quite plausibly be the ancestor of the 16th-century goal, and gol suggest an Old English *gāl.
No such word has come down to us, but the Old English verb gǣlan ‘hinder’, which looks as though it could have been related to a noun *gāl, indicates that if it existed it might have meant ‘obstacle, barrier’ (which would lead on quite logically through ‘boundary’ and ‘finishing line’ to ‘something to be aimed at’).
goal (n.)
1530s, "end point of a race," of uncertain origin. It appears once before this (as gol), in a poem from early 14c. and with an apparent sense of "boundary, limit." Perhaps from Old English *gal "obstacle, barrier," a word implied by gælan "to hinder" and also found in compounds (singal, widgal). That would make it a variant or figurative use of Middle English gale "a way, course." Also compare Old Norse geil "a narrow glen, a passage." Or from Old French gaule "long pole, stake," which is from Germanic. Sports sense of "place where the ball, etc. is put to score" is attested from 1540s. Figurative sense of "object of an effort" is from 1540s.
goal 双语例句
1. They were still arguing the toss about the first goal.
他们仍在为第一个进球争论不休。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It all started so promisingly when Speed scored a tremendous first goal.
比赛开始的时候形势大好，斯皮德以一记精彩的进球拔得头筹。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The clincher was City's second goal, scored minutes from the end.
离比赛结束还剩几分钟的时候，曼城队的第二粒进球锁定了胜局。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The home side rubbed in their superiority with a further goal.
主队再进一球从而奠定了优势。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Eric Cantona made the game safe with a brilliant opportunist goal.