Picture a silver spoon that has been left out on a shelf for a year. Nobody dropped it, nobody scratched it, nobody did anything to it at all — and yet it has gone dark. A thin film has settled over the surface and the shine is hidden underneath. Rub it with a cloth and the brightness is still there, waiting. That is the whole word: something that was bright, a film that quietly covers it, and the shine still sitting under the film.
From the word’s history
The packet's Wiktionary entry traces the word through Middle English ternysshen and Old French ternir ('to make dim, make wan') back to Old High German tarnen, 'to conceal' — the sense of covering something over is in the root itself.
packet 裡的 Wiktionary 資料把它一路追到中古英語 ternysshen、古法文 ternir（使變暗、使失色），再到古高地德語 tarnen（遮蓋）。「蓋住」這個意思本來就在字根裡，這跟現代那層蓋住光澤的暗膜正好對得上。
Wiktionary entry supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:910265517:21054)
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