Etymology Dictionary

AMBASSADOR,  a messenger.  (F.,—Low Lat.—O.H.G.)   Udal, on Math. c. 28, has ambassadour.   Also written embassador.   Chaucer has ambassatrye, an embassy, C. T. 4653.—F. ambassadeur, 'embassadour;' Cot.—F. ambassade, an embassy.   α. Of this word Brachet says:  'not found in French before the 14th century, and shewn to be foreign by its ending -ade (unknown in Fr.,

which has -ée for -ade).   It comes from Span. ambaxada, a word related to the Low Lat. ambaxiata.   [Ducange only gives the forms ambaxata and ambassiata.]   This word is derived from Low Lat. ambaxiare, ambactiare [to relate, announce], formed from ambactia, a very common term in the Salic Law, meaning 'a mission, embassy.'   This Lat. ambactia has given rise to E. embassy, q.v.—Low Lat. ambactus, a servant, especially one who is sent on a message; used once by Cæsar, de Bello Gallico, vi. 14.—O.H.G. ambaht, ampaht, a servant. + Goth. andbahts, a servant. + A.S. ambeht, ombiht, a servant; Grein, i. 2. + Icel. ambátt, a bondwoman, handmaid.   β. The fullest form appears in the Gothic, and shews that the word is compounded of the Goth. prefix and-, anda-, and the sb. bahts, a servant.   γ. The prefix answers to O.H.G. ant- (later ent-), Lat. ante, Gk. ἀντι, Skt. anti, over against, and appears also in Along, and Answer.   δ. The sb. bants only appears in Gothic in composition, but it meant 'devoted,' as is clear from the allied Skt. bhakta, attached, devoted, with the derivative bhakti, worship, devotion, service.   Bhakta is the pp. of the verb bhaj, to divide; from the ✔BHAG, to divide.   See Benfey, p. 640; Fick, i. 154; iii. 16.   ¶ Thus this curious word is fully accounted for, and resolved into the prefix which appears as and- in A.S. and Gothic, and a derivative from ✔BHAG.   It may be observed that the O.H.G. ambahti, service, is still preserved in G. in the corrupted form amt.   Der. ambassadr-ess.   See Embassy.  [†]

ADDENDA

Line 10.   The form ambactia is not the form in the MSS. of the Salic Law, but the forms ambascia, ambasia, ambassia, ambaxia, all occur there, and the word there signifies a charge, office, or employment; see Lex Salica, ed. Hessels and Kern, 1880.   Ambactia* is the theoretical form whence all the others proceed.