archive

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɑː.kaɪv/, US /ˈɑːr.kaɪv/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin archīvum, archīum, partly through obsolete French archive (now archives, plural),^[2][3] from Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon, “government house”), plural arkheîa, public records,^[2][3] from ἀρχή (arkhḗ), government (see arch-).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A figurative or transferred use: 1603;^[4] a historical record so preserved, 1638;^[4] a place where public records are kept, 1645.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word is usually plural, archives.^[5][6] The verb, to file in an archive, is implied in archived by 1819 in Etymonline,^[6] 1831 in Merriam-Webster and 1934 in the OED.^[2][4] The OED records archiving from 1978;^[4] in computing, to archive is to move data to long-term storage.^[5]

Timeline

• 1603 – figurative use.^[4]
• 1638 – a preserved record.^[4]
• 1645 – a place for records.^[4]
• 1819 – archived.^[6]
• 1978 – archiving (computing).^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A collection of historical records or documents, often plural.
2. A place where such records are kept.
3. (computing) Data moved to long-term storage.

Verb

1. To place or store in an archive.

Word family

• archival
• archivist

Related words

• archives
• arch-
• archaic

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com