archives
pronunciation
How to pronounce archives in British English:
UK ['ɑ:kaɪvz]
How to pronounce archives in American English:
US ['ɑkaɪvz]
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- Noun:
- collection of records especially about an institution
- a depository containing historical records and documents
Word Origin
- archives
- archives: [17] The Greek verb arkhein meant originally ‘begin’ – and hence ‘be in first place, rule’. This sense development lies behind the diversity in meaning of the words ultimately derived from it in English. Greek arkheion was the official residence of a ruler, a ‘public office’, and its plural, arkheia, was used for ‘public records’; it passed into English via Latin archīa, later archīva, and French archives.Greek arkhē, on the other hand, had the sense ‘beginning’, and the adjective formed from it, arkhaios, later arkhaikós, ‘ancient’, came through French archaïque into English as archaic [19] (arkhaios is also the source of archaeology [17]). The same split in meaning is evident in the prefix arch-, which comes from the same source: in archetype, for instance, it signifies ‘first’, whereas in archduke it implies ‘highest in rank’.=> archaic, archetype
- archives (n.)
- c. 1600, from French archif (16c.), from Late Latin archivum (singular), from Greek ta arkheia "public records," plural of arkheion "town hall," from arkhe "government," literally "beginning, origin, first place" (see archon).
Example
- 1. Here 's another fascinating case from my archives .
- 2. Cooper said the archives is trying to determine if the document can be restored .
- 3. We will consider all your photographs , although we will draw from our archives .
- 4. Now I browse through familylife 's online radio archives almost every day .
- 5. This riveting story is told in 2008 's lenin 's brain and other tales from the secret soviet archives .