ambassador

• n.大使; 代表者; 特使

接頭辞ambi-、両側に、周囲に。 -assはagの過去分詞形。もともとは古代ローマ帝国から派遣された役人のこと。

ambassador

ambassador: [14] Appropriately enough, ambassador is a highly cosmopolitan word. It was borrowed back and forth among several European languages before arriving in English. Its ultimate source appears to be the Indo- European root *ag- ‘drive, lead’, whose other numerous offspring include English act and agent. With the addition of the prefix *amb- ‘around’ (as in ambidextrous), this produced in the Celtic languages of Gaul the noun ambactos, which was borrowed by Latin as ambactus ‘vassal’.

The Latin word then found its way into the Germanic languages – Old English had ambeht ‘servant, messenger’, Old High German ambaht (from which modern German gets amt ‘official position’) – from which it was later borrowed back into medieval Latin as ambactia. This seems to have formed the basis of a verb, *ambactiāre ‘go on a mission’ (from which English ultimately gets embassy), from which in turn was derived the noun *ambactiātor.

This became ambasciator in Old Italian, from which Old French borrowed it as ambassadeur. The word had a be wildering array of spellings in Middle English (such as ambaxadour and inbassetour) before finally settling down as ambassador in the 16th century.
=> embassy

ambassador (n.)

late 14c., also embassador, from Middle French ambassadeur, from Old French embassator, via Proven?al or Old Spanish from Latin ambactus "a servant, vassal," from Celtic amb(i)actos "a messenger, servant," from PIE *ambhi- "about" (see ambi-) + *ag- "drive, lead" (see act (v.)). Compare embassy. Forms in am- and em- were used indiscriminately 17c.-18c.

1. The decision will be relayed to Iraq 's ambassador at the UN.

この決定はイラクの国連駐在大使に伝えられるだろう。

2.Also among the speakers was the new American ambassador to Moscow.

発言者の中にはモスクワ駐在の新任米国大使もいる。

3.I 've been invited to meet with the American Ambassador .

私は招待されてアメリカ大使に会いました。

4.This morning the American was formally handed over to the ambassador .

このアメリカ人は今日午前、大使に正式に引き渡された。

5.The ambassador was clearly disconcerted by the British reaction.

明らかに、英国の反応はこの大使を不安にさせた。