Earth & SkyGreek → English
Archipelago
/ˌɑːrkɪˈpɛləɡoʊ/noun
A group or chain of islands.
The Greek roots
ἀρχι-
archi-
chief, principal
πέλαγος
pélagos
open sea
Literally: “chief sea”
The story of the word
Italian sailors called the Aegean the Arcipelago, the chief sea, and some scholars think that is itself a reshaping of Αἰγαῖον πέλαγος. Because that sea is packed with islands, the word slid from naming the water to naming the land in it, so the meaning inverted completely. English had it in the sixteenth century as a proper name for the Aegean before it became a common noun for any island cluster.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Italian → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
pelagicarchitectarchbishoparchangel
In a sentence
The ferry works its way down the archipelago, one island a day.