Online Etymology Dictionary

antedate (v.): 1580s, earlier as noun meaning "a backdating, false early date attached to a document or event" (1570s); from Latin ante "before" (see ante) + date (v.1). Related: Antedated; antedating.
antediluvian (adj.): "before Noah's flood," 1640s, formed from Latin ante- "before" (see ante) + diluvium "a flood" (see deluge (n.)). Coined by English physician Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682). As a noun meaning "person who lived before the Flood," from 1680s.
antelope (n.): early 15c., from Old French antelop, from Medieval Latin ant(h)alopus (11c.), from Greek antholops (attested in Eusebius of Antioch, c.336 C.E.), a fabulous animal haunting the banks of the Euphrates, very savage, hard to catch and having long saw-like horns capable of cutting down trees. Original sense and language unknown (it looks like Greek "flower-eye," as if from anthos + ops, but that may be a result of Greek folk etymology). A heraldic animal, also known in Medieval Latin as talopus and calopus, the name was applied c.1600 to a living type of deer-like mammal. In the western U.S., it is used in reference to the pronghorn.
antemundane (adj.): "existing or happening before the creation of the world," 1731; see ante- + mundane.
antenatal (adj.): "before birth," 1798, from Latin ante "before" (see ante) + natal.
antenna (n.): 1640s, "feeler or horn of an insect," from Latin antenna "sail yard," the long yard that sticks up on some sails, of unknown origin, perhaps from PIE root *temp- "to stretch, extend." In the etymological sense, it is a loan-translation of Aristotle's Greek keraiai "horns" (of insects). Modern use in radio, etc., for "aerial wire" is from 1902. Adjectival forms are antennal (1834), antennary (1836), antennular (1858).
antennae (n.): Latinate plural of antenna; see -ae.
antennas (n.): nativized plural of antenna; see -ae.
antenuptial (adj.): "prior to marriage," 1818, originally of children's births; see ante- + nuptial.
antepartum (adj.): 1908, from Latin phrase ante partum "before birth" (see postpartum).
antepenult (n.): 1610s; see antepenultimate.
antepenultimate (adj.): "the last but two," 1730, from antepenult (n.), 1610s, abbreviation of Latin antepaenultima (syllaba), fem. of antepaenultimus, from ante "before" (see ante) + paenultima, from paen "almost" + ultima "last" (see ultimate).
anterior (adj.): 1610s, Latin, literally "former," comparative of ante "before" (see ante). Related: Anteriority.
anteroom (n.): also ante-room, 1762, literally "a room in front;" after French antichambre, Italian anticamera, from Latin ante "before" (see ante) + camera (see chamber).
anthem (n.): Old English ontemn, antefn, "a composition (in prose or verse) sung antiphonally," from Late Latin antefana, from Greek antiphona "verse response" (see antiphon). Sense evolved to "a composition set to sacred music" (late 14c.), then "song of praise or gladness" (1590s). Used in reference to the English national song (technically, as OED points out, a hymn) and extended to those of other nations. Modern spelling is from late 16c., perhaps an attempt to make the word look more Greek.
anthemic (adj.): of music, "felt to resemble an anthem," 1841, from anthem + -ic. In reference to a type of acid, 1859, so called because isolated from dog-fennel (Anthemis arvensis).
anther (n.): 1550s, "medical extract of flowers," from French anthère, from Modern Latin anthera "a medicine extracted from a flower," from Greek anthera, fem. of antheros "flowery, blooming," from anthos "flower," from PIE root *andh- "to bloom" (cf. Sanskrit andhas "herb," Armenian and "field," Middle Irish ainder "young girl," Welsh anner "young cow"). Main modern sense attested by 1791.
anthesis (n.): "full bloom," 1835, from Greek anthesis, noun of action from antheein "to blossom," from anthos "flower," (see anther).
anthill (n.): late 13c., from ant + hill.
anthologize (v.): 1889; see anthology + -ize. Related: Anthologized; anthologizing.
anthology (n.): 1630s, "collection of poetry," from Latin anthologia, from Greek anthologia "collection of small poems and epigrams by several authors," literally "flower-gathering," from anthos "a flower" (see anther) + logia "collection, collecting," from legein "gather" (see lecture (n.)). Modern sense (which emerged in Late Greek) is metaphoric, "flowers" of verse, small poems by various writers gathered together.
Anthony: masc. proper name, from Latin Antonius, name of a Roman gens (with excrescent -h- probably suggested by many Greek loan words beginning anth-, e.g. anthros "flower," anthropos "man"); St. Anthony (4c.), Egyptian hermit, patron saint of swineherds, to whom one of each litter was usually vowed, hence Anthony for "smallest pig of the litter (1660s; in condensed form tantony pig from 1590s). St. Anthony's Fire (1520s), popular name for erysipelas, is said to be so called from the tradition that those who sought his intercession recovered from that distemper during a fatal epidemic in 1089.
anthracite (n.): "non-bituminous coal," 1812, earlier (c.1600) a type of ruby-like gem described by Pliny, from Latin anthracites "bloodstone, semi-precious gem," from Greek anthrakites "coal-like," from anthrax (genitive anthrakos) "live coal" (see anthrax). Related: Anthractic (adj.).
anthrax (n.): late 14c., "any severe boil or carbuncle," from Latin, from Greek anthrax "charcoal, live coal," also "carbuncle," of unknown origin. Specific sense of the malignant disease in sheep and cattle (and occasionally humans) is from 1876.
anthro-: see anthropo-.
anthropic (adj.): "pertaining to man," 1836, from Greek anthropikos "human," from anthropos "male human being, man" (see anthropo-). Related: Anthropical (1804).
anthropo-: before a vowel, anthrop-, word-forming element meaning "pertaining to man or human beings," from comb. form of Greek anthropos "man, human being" (sometimes also including women) from Attic andra (genitive andros), from Greek aner "man" (as opposed to a woman, a god, or a boy), from PIE *hner "man" (cf. Sanskrit nar-, Armenian ayr, Welsh ner).

Anthropos sometimes is explained as a compound of aner and ops (genitive opos) "eye, face;" so literally "he who has the face of a man." The change of -d- to -th- is difficult to explain; perhaps it is from some lost dialectal variant, or the mistaken belief that there was an aspiration sign over the vowel in the second element (as though *-dhropo-), which mistake might have come about by influence of common verbs such as horao "to see."
anthropocentric (adj.): "regarding man as the center," 1855, from anthropo- + -centric. Related: Anthropocentrically.
anthropocentrism (n.): 1897; see anthropocentric + -ism.
anthropogenic (adj.): 1889, from anthropogeny + -ic.
anthropogeny (n.): 1833, from anthropo- + geny.
anthropoid (adj.): "manlike," 1835, from Greek anthropoeides "like a man, resembling a man; in human form;" see anthropo- + -iod. As a noun, attested from 1832 (the Greek noun in this sense was anthroparion).
anthropolatry (n.): "worship of a human being," 1650s, from Greek anthropos (see anthropo-) + latreia "hired labor, service, worship" (see -latry).
anthropological (adj.): 1825, from anthropology + -ical. Related: Anthropologically.
anthropologist (n.): 1798, from anthropology + -ist.
anthropology (n.): "science of the natural history of man," 1590s, originally especially of the relation between physiology and psychology, from Modern Latin anthropologia or coined independently in English from anthropo- + -logy. In Aristotle, anthropologos is used literally, as "speaking of man."
anthropometric (adj.): 1871, based on French anthropométrique, from anthropometry "measurement of the human body" + -ic.
anthropometry (n.): 1839, "acquaintance with the dimensions of the parts of the human body," from anthropo- + -metry. Perhaps modeled on French anthropometrie.
anthropomorphic (adj.): 1806, from anthropomorphous + -ic. Originally in reference to regarding God or gods as having human form and human characteristics; of animals and other things from 1858; the sect of the Antropomorfites is mentioned in English from mid-15c. (see anthropomorphite).
anthropomorphism (n.): 1753, "attributing of human qualities to a deity;" see anthropomorphic + -ism. Of other non-human things, from 1858. Related: Anthropomorphist (1610s).
anthropomorphite (n.): mid-15c.; see anthropomorphite + -ist.
The sect of Antropomorfitis, whiche helden that God in his godhede hath hondis and feet and othere suche membris. [Reginald Pecock, "The Repressor of Over Much Blaming of the Clergy," 1449]
Related: Anthropomorphitism (1660s).
anthropomorphize (v.): 1834; see anthropomorphic + -ize. Related: Anthropomorphized; anthopomorphizing.
anthropomorphous (adj.): 1753, anglicization of Late Latin anthropomorphus "having human form," from Greek anthropomorphos, from anthropos "human being" (see anthropo-) + morphe "form" (see morphine).
anthropopathy (n.): "ascribing of human feelings to god," 1640s, from Greek anthropopatheia "humanity," literally "human feeling," from anthropo- + -patheia, comb. form of pathos "suffering, disease, feeling" (see pathos). Related: Anthropopathic; anthropopathically.
anthropophagy (n.): "cannibalism," 1630s, from French anthropophagie, from Greek anthropophagia "an eating of men," from anthropophagos "man-eating; a man-eater," from anthropo- + stem of phagein "to eat" (see -phagous). Related: Anthropophagic; anthropophagism.
anti (n.): as a stand-alone word, attested from 1788, originally in reference to the anti-federalists in U.S. politics (in the 1830s, of the Anti-Masonic party); as an adjective, from 1857. From anti- in various usages.
anti-: word-forming element meaning "against, opposed to, opposite of, instead," from Old French anti- and directly from Latin anti-, from Greek anti "against, opposite, instead of," also used as a prefix, from PIE *anti "against," also "in front of" (see ante). It appears in some words in Middle English but was not commonly used in word formations until modern times.
anti-aircraft (adj.): also antiaircraft, 1914, from anti- + aircraft.
Anti-American (adj.): also antiamerican, 1788 (n.), in reference to British parliamentary policies, from anti- + American. As an adjective by 1838. Related: Anti-Americanism "opposition to what is distinctly American," 1844.
anti-bacterial (adj.): also antibacterial, 1875, from anti- + bacterial.