English
archipelago
Archipelago comes from Italian arcipelago ‘Aegean Sea’, and goes back to Ancient Greek πέλαγος.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπέλαγος‘sea’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpelagus‘the sea’
- Italianc. 1300–presentpelago‘(open) sea’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentarcipelago‘Aegean Sea’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1502archipelago
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπέλαγος‘sea’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpelagus‘the sea’
- Italianc. 1300–presentpelago‘(open) sea’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentarcipelago‘Aegean Sea’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1502archipelago
Earliest quotation: c. 1502, Richard Arnold, The Customs of London: “[M]any other iles within the Archpelago that is yͤ…”
The story
Noun sense 2.1 (‘sea with many islands’) is from the fact that the Aegean Sea has many islands, and noun sense 2.2 (‘group of many islands’) represents a shift of meaning from the sea to the islands in such a sea.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat, broad, plain’
field, floor, explain, plane, explanation, plain, palm, clan, explanatory, fluke, playa, placenta, parma, flounder, planar, palatine, esplanade, placate, implacable, polonium, plantar, lech, flay, floe, veld, purdah, llano, planta, 49 more
through Ancient Greek πέλαγος ‘sea’
Today it means
noun Preceded by the, and often in the form Archipelago: the Aegean Sea.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek πέλαγος / archipelago