Etymologically
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arsenal

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɑːsənəl/, /ˈɑːsnəl/ (UK); /ˈɑɹsənəl/, /ˈɑɹsnəl/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian arsenale,[2][3][4] earlier arzanale,[2][5][6] from Venetian arzanà “dockyard”,[6] from Arabic دَار الصِّنَاعَة (dār aṣ-ṣināʿa, “house of manufacture, workshop”),[5][2][3][4][6] from dār “house” and ṣināʿa “art, craft”, from ṣanaʿa “to make”.[5][2][4] Random House suggests that the initial d- was dropped because it was taken for the Italian preposition di “of”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dock with naval stores, where ships were built and repaired (1506).[7][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Venetians gave the name to the great dockyard of their city, and English took it up in that sense,[5][4] which is why the earliest English forms are Italianate.[4] The sense “public store or factory of weapons and ammunition” dates from the 1570s,[5][7] and figurative use, “a store of anything”, from 1598.[7][3][6]

Timeline

  • 1506 – a dockyard with naval stores.[7][4]
  • 1555 – first date in Merriam-Webster.[3]
  • 1579 – a public establishment for making or storing weapons.[7][5]
  • 1598 – figurative use.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A place where weapons and military equipment are manufactured or stored.
  2. A stock of weapons, especially all those a nation possesses.
  3. A store or supply of anything; a repertoire.

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press