arch | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

91 entries found.

also archi-, word-forming element meaning "chief, principal; extreme, ultra; early, primitive," from Latinized form of Greek arkh-, arkhi- "first, chief, primeval," combining form of arkhos "a chief, leader, commander," arkhein "be first, begin" (see archon).

-arch

word-forming element meaning "a ruler," from Greek arkhos "leader, chief, ruler," from arkhē "beginning, origin, first place," verbal noun of arkhein "to be the first," hence "to begin" and "to rule" (see archon).

archduchess (n.)

1610s, modeled on French archiduchesse; see arch- "chief" + duchess. In later use generally "a princess of the reigning family of Austria," translating German Erzherzogin. Compare archduke, which is the masc. form.

archdeacon (n.)

"ecclesiastic who has charge of a part of a diocese," Old English arcediacon, from Church Latin archidiaconus, from Ecclesiastical Greek arkhidiakonon "chief deacon;" see arch- + deacon. Related: Archdeaconship.

heresiarch (n.)

"arch-heretic; leader in heresy," 1620s, from Church Latin haeresiarcha, from Late Greek hairesiarkhes "leader of a school;" in classical use chiefly a medical school; in ecclesiastical writers, leader of a sect or heresy (see heresy + arch-). Related: Heresiarchy.

archduke (n.)

1520s, from French archeduc (Modern French archiduc), from Merovingian Latin archiducem (c. 750); see arch- + duke (n.). Formerly the title of the rulers of Austrasia, Lorraine, Brabant, and Austria; later the titular dignity of the sons of the Emperor of Austria. Related: Archducal; archduchy.

archipelago (n.)

c. 1500, from Italian arcipelago "the Aegean Sea" (13c.), from arci- "chief, principal," from Latin archi- (see arch-) + pelago "pool; gulf, abyss," from Medieval Latin pelagus "pool; gulf, abyss, sea," from Greek pelagos "sea, high sea, open sea, main" (see pelagic).

The elements of the word are Greek, but there is no record of arkhipelagos in ancient or Medieval Greek (the modern word in Greek is borrowed from Italian), so the word perhaps is an Italian compound or an alteration in Italian of Medieval Latin Egeopelagus, from Greek Aigaion pelagos "Aegean Sea." The Aegean being full of island chains, the meaning was extended in Italian to "any sea studded with islands" (a sense attested in English from c. 1600) and to the islands themselves. Related: Archipelagian; archipelagic.

archivolt (n.)

ornamental molding on the face of an arch, 1731, from Italian archivolto, from volta, volto "arch, vault" (see vault (n.1)).

apsis (n.)

"perigee of the moon, perihelion of a planet" (plural apsides), 1650s, from Latin apsis "arch, vault" (see apse).

apse (n.)

"semicircular extension at the end of a church," 1846, from Latin apsis "an arch, a vault," from Greek hapsis (Ionic apsis) "loop, arch," originally "a fastening, felloe of a wheel," from haptein "fasten together," which is of unknown origin. The original sense in Greek seems to have been the joining of the arcs to form a circle, especially in making a wheel. The architectural term is earlier attested in English in the Latin form (1706). Related: Apsidal.

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