"take to one's self, make one's own by selection," c. 1500, a back-formation from adoption or else from Old French adopter (14c.) or directly from Latin adoptare "chose for oneself, take by choice, select, adopt," especially "to take into a family, adopt as a child," from ad "to" (see ad-) + optare "choose, wish, desire" (see option (n.)).
Originally in English of friends, fathers, citizens, etc., as well as children. The specific sense of "to legally take as one's own child" and that of "to embrace, espouse" a practice, method, etc. are from c. 1600. Related: Adopted; adopting.
c. 1500, "act of adulterating; state of being debased by mixture with something else," generally of inferior quality, from Latin adulterationem (nominative adulteratio) "an adulteration, sophistication," noun of action from past-participle stem of adulterare "corrupt, falsify; debauch; commit adultery," from ad "to" (see ad-) + alterare "to alter" (see alter), though Watkins explains it as ad alterum "(approaching) another (unlawfully)." Meaning "a result of adulterating" is from 1650s.
c. 1500, "proclaim, make known formally," from Old French anoncier "announce, proclaim" (12c., Modern French annoncer), from Latin annuntiare, adnuntiare "to announce, make known," literally "bring news to," from ad "to" (see ad-) + nuntiare "relate, report," from nuntius "messenger" (from PIE root *neu- "to shout"). Related: Announced; announcing.
c. 1500 shortening of Middle English ampte (late 14c.), from Old English æmette "ant," from West Germanic *emaitjon (source also of Old High German ameiza, German Ameise) from a compound of Germanic *e-, *ai- "off, away" + *mai- "cut," from PIE root *mai- (1) "to cut" (see maim). Thus the insect's name is, etymologically, "the biter-off."
As þycke as ameten crepeþ in an amete hulle [chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, 1297]
Emmet survived into 20c. as an alternative form. By a similar contraction, aunt "a parent's sister" is from Latin amita. White ant "termite" is from 1729. To have ants in one's pants "be nervous and fidgety" is from 1934, made current by a popular song; antsy embodies the same notion.
c. 1500, "a versicle sung responsively," from French antiphone "hymn" or directly from Medieval Latin antiphona, from Greek antiphōna (neuter plural), from antiphōnos "responsive, sounding in answer," from anti "in return" (see anti-) + phōnē "voice" (from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say").
A reborrowing of the word which had become anthem in English (in Old English antefn, antifon) and lost its original meaning.
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.
c. 1500, "dockyard, dock with naval stores," from Italian arzenale, from Arabic dar as-sina'ah "workshop," literally "house of manufacture," from dar "house" + sina'ah "art, craft, skill," from sana'a "he made."
The word was applied by the Venetians to a large wharf in their city, and English picked it up in this sense. The meaning "public place for making or storing weapons and ammunition" is from 1570s. The London football club (1886) was named for the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, where the original players worked.
