Etymologically
Log in

anchorage

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 15:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈæŋkəɹɪd͡ʒ/[1]
  • US: /ˈæŋkɚɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈeɪŋkɚɪd͡ʒ/[1]

anchorage1 place for anchoring

Etymology

The anchoring place is partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman ancorage, also ankerage, a toll for anchoring a vessel,[2][3] and partly formed from English anchor + -age.[2][4][5][6] The Anglo-Norman word, recorded in 1331–65 for a fee paid on anchoring a ship in a harbour,[3] is formed from ancrer (“to anchor”) and the suffix -age.[2] The OED compares Medieval Latin ancoragium (12th century), Catalan ancoratge, Italian ancoraggio and Dutch ankerage.[2] Anchor is from Old English ancor, from Latin ancora, which comes from or is related to Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura, “anchor, hook”).[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A toll or charge paid for anchoring a vessel in a harbour: 1405, in a document printed by Flasdieck.[2][7] The Middle English Dictionary quotes an earlier ancorage from a Lancashire inquest of 1348, which the OED leaves undecided between Anglo-Norman and English.[7][2] Etymonline dates the toll sense to the mid 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the word named a place off the coast suitable for anchoring (1536, in Copland's Rutter of the Sea) and the act of anchoring or the state of lying at anchor (1599, in Hakluyt).[2] Etymonline dates these senses later, to the 1610s and 1706.[5] Shakespeare used it in Titus Andronicus (1594) for a ship's set of anchors, a rare sense that died out.[2][6] The figurative sense, a firm basis or source of security, followed in 1596, in Drayton;[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "the hold of the anchor", quoting Wotton's "all our anchorage were loose".[8] From 1740 it was used of any means of holding something firmly in place, in dentistry for the hold of a filling (1859–1917), and since 1947 for the fittings that attach a seat belt to a vehicle.[2]

Timeline

  • 1331–65 – Anglo-Norman ancorage, a fee for anchoring.[3]
  • 1405 – a toll for anchoring.[2][7]
  • 1536 – a place suitable for anchoring.[2]
  • 1594 – a ship's set of anchors (obsolete by 1867).[2]
  • 1596 – figurative, a source of security or support.[2]
  • 1599 – the act of anchoring; lying at anchor.[2]
  • 1740 – a means of holding something firmly in place.[2]
  • 1947 – a seat-belt fitting.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A place where ships anchor or may anchor: The yacht found a sheltered anchorage in the bay.[9][6][2]
  2. The act of anchoring, or the state of lying at anchor.[9][6][2]
  3. A fee charged for anchoring.[9][2][4]
  4. Something that holds another thing firmly in place, such as the fitting that secures a seat belt.[9][2]
  5. A source of security or strength.[9][2][4]
  6. (obsolete, 1594–1867) The set of anchors of a ship.[2][6]

anchorage2 anchorite's cell

Etymology

The anchorite's cell is formed from English anchor (“anchorite”) + -age,[2][4][6] probably on the model of hermitage, and perhaps influenced by anchorage1.[2][4] Anchor in this sense, recorded from Old English, is from Late Latin anachōrēta (“hermit, recluse”), shortened within Old English or taken through an unrecorded Early Irish form,[2] and the Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἀναχωρητής (anakhōrētḗs, “hermit, recluse”).[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cell or retreat of an anchorite: 1593, in a description of the church of Durham.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The word kept this single sense;[2] the Shorter Oxford calls it archaic or historical.[4] The OED compares the older anchor-settle.[2]

Timeline

  • 1593 – an anchorite's cell.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic) The dwelling of an anchorite; a hermit's cell.[6][4][2]

Usage notes

The city of Anchorage in Alaska, the state's largest, was founded in 1914.[5][9][6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins