15世紀初,“傾向於戰鬥的”,源自拉丁語 bellicosus “好戰的,勇敢的,愛打仗的”,源自 bellicus “戰爭的”,源自 bellum “戰爭”(古拉丁語 duellum, dvellum),其起源不確定。
The best etymology for duellum so far has been proposed by Pinault 1987, who posits a dim. *duelno- to bonus. If *duelno- meant 'quite good, quite brave', its use in the context of war (bella acta, bella gesta) could be understood as a euphemism, ultimately yielding a meaning 'action of valour, war' for the noun bellum. [de Vaan]