"A" Word Origins

alkali

Origin

From French alcali, from Medieval Latin alcali, ultimately from Arabic اَلْقِلْي (al-qily, “alkali, ashes (in reference to ashes of the saltwort)”), related to قَلَى (qalā, “to roast in a pan, fry”).

alkaline

Arabic

From "alkali," which came into English via Arabic al-qily, the ashes of a salt-tolerant desert plant once burned to make soap and glass.

alkalizer

Origin

From alkalize + -er.

all

Old English

From Old English eall, an ancient Germanic word going back to a prehistoric Indo-European root meaning simply "all."

Allah

Arabic

From Arabic اللّٰه (allāh), a contraction of اَل (al-, "the") + إِلَه (ʔilah, "deity").

allay

Origin

From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.

allegation

Latin

From Latin allegare, "to bring forward as evidence" — the same root as "allege."

allege

Origin

From Middle English aleggen, perhaps from Old French alleguer, or from Anglo-Norman aleger, the form perhaps from Old French esligier (“to acquit”), from Medieval Latin *exlītigāre (“to clear at law”), from Latin ex (“out”) + lītigō (“sue at law”), but the meaning from Old French alleguer, from Latin allēgāre (“send on a mission, depute; relate, mention, adduce”), from ad (“to”) + lēgō (“send”). See also al-.

allegedly

Origin

Formed from "alleged" plus the adverb-forming suffix "-ly."

allegiance

Old French

From Old French ligeance, describing the loyalty a vassal owed to his lord — the root also survives in the word "liege."

allegorize

Origin

From Late Middle English allegoriese, allegorisen (“to interpret (something) in a spiritual sense”), from Anglo-Norman allegorizer and Middle French allegoriser, alegoriser (“to express or interpret allegorically”) (modern French allégoriser), and from their etymon Late Latin allēgorizāre, the present active infinitive of allēgorizō (“to express or interpret allegorically”), from Ancient Greek ᾰ̓λληγορῐ́ᾱ (ăllēgorĭ́ā, “veiled language, allegory”) + Late Latin -izō (suffix forming verbs expressing resemblance or similarity). Ἀ̆λληγορῐ́ᾱ (Ăllēgorĭ́ā) is probably derived from ἀλληγορος (allēgoros, “allegorical”) (though only attested in Byzantine Greek) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns); and ἀλληγορος (allēgoros) from ᾰ̓́λλος (ắllos, “another; different”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“beyond; other”)) + ἠγόρ- (ēgór-, the imperfect stem of ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak in the assembly; to say, speak”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming certain inflections of adjectives). By surface analysis, allegory + -ize.

allegory

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek allegoria, "speaking in a different way" — combining allos ("other") with a verb meaning "to speak publicly," so literally "saying one thing while meaning another."

Allegra

Italian

Borrowed from Italian allegra ("cheerful"), inspired by the musical term allegro.

allegro

Italian

Borrowed directly from Italian allegro, "cheerful, lively," the word Italian composers used to mark a fast tempo.

alleluia

Latin

Traced back through Latin and Greek to Biblical Hebrew halleluyah, literally "praise the Lord" — from hallelu ("praise") and Yah, a short form of the divine name.

Allende

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Allende.

allergy

Greek · 1906

Coined in 1906 by the Austrian doctor Clemens von Pirquet, combining Greek allos ("other") and ergon ("work, reaction") to describe the immune system reacting abnormally.

alleviate

Late Latin

From Late Latin alleviare, "to lighten," built from levis, meaning "light" (as in not heavy) — the same root that gives us "levity" and "elevate."

alley

Old French

From Old French alee, "a going, a walk," from the verb aler, "to go" — the same root that gives French its verb "aller" and English the related word "allée."

alleyway

Origin

A straightforward combination of "alley" and "way."

allheal

Origin

From all + heal. Compare Latin panax and panacea.

alliance

Old French

From Old French aliance, built on the verb alier, "to bind together" — the same root as the word "ally."

Allie

Origin

Diminutives + -ie.

Allies

Origin

Proprialisation of allies, the plural of ally.

alligator

Spanish

From Spanish el lagarto, "the lizard," picked up by English sailors and explorers in the Americas and gradually reshaped into its current spelling.

Allison

Middle English

From a Middle English diminutive of Alan, Alexander, or Alice + -son.

alliteration

Latin

From Latin "ad-" (to) plus "littera" (letter) — letters set alongside one another.

allmouth

Origin

From all + mouth.

allo

Greek

A short form of "allosexual" or "alloromantic," built with the Greek prefix allo- meaning "other."

allocate

Latin

From Latin allocare, "to place" — built from ad- ("to") and locare ("to place"), the same root that gives English "locate."

allocation

Medieval Latin

From Medieval Latin allocatio, built on the same root as "allocate."

allograph

Origin

From allo- + -graph.

allosexual

Origin

From allo- (“other”) + sexual. "Directed at or involving another rather than one's self" and "involving the other sex; heterosexual" are the most etymologically literal senses (regarding the latter sense, compare the structure of heterosexual), structural and semantic opposites of autosexual and isosexual. The sense "non-heterosexual" was influenced by (and had influence on) Canadian French allosexuel.

allot

Old French

From Old French aloter, built on lot, the same root behind the English word "lot" meaning a share or portion decided by chance.

allotment

Old French

From Old French alotement, built on the verb "allot."

allow

Latin

From Anglo-Norman alouer, which blended two separate Latin roots — one meaning "to praise/approve" and one meaning "to place/assign" — giving English both the "permit" and "set aside" senses.

allowability

Origin

From allow + -ability.

allowable

Origin

From Middle English allowable, alowable, a borrowing from Old French alouable (Modern French allouable), from allouer, equivalent to allow + -able.

allowance

Old French

From Old French alouance, built on the same double root as "allow."

alloy

Latin

From Old French aloi, related to Latin alligare, "to bind together" — the same root as "ally".

allude

Origin

From Middle French alluder, from Latin alludere (“to play with or allude”), from ad + ludere (“to play”). See also al-.

allure

Old French

From Old French aleurer, built from a- ("toward") plus leurre ("lure") — the same root that gives English "lure".

alluring

Origin

By surface analysis, allure + -ing.

allusion

Latin

From Latin "alludere," to play with or hint at, from "ad-" (to) plus "ludere" (to play).

alluvion

Origin

Borrowed from Latin alluviō.

alluvium

Origin

From Medieval Latin alluvium (“matter deposited by flowing water”), neuter of alluvius (“deposited by a river”), from Latin alluviō (“washing upon, overflowing”). See also al-.

ally

Latin

From Old French alier, from Latin alligare, "to bind to" — literally someone bound to you by a shared cause.

alma

Arabic

From Arabic ʕālima, literally "learned woman", from ʕalima, "to know".