Where does “alliance” come from?
Alliance comes from Middle English alliaunce, from Old French aliance, meaning a joining or uniting.
alliance (English): The state of being allied; The act of allying or...
Definitions
- The state of being allied; The act of allying or...
Ancestry of “alliance”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | alliaunce | Alliance; a pact making allies or the state of... |
| 2 | Old French | aliance | — |
| 3 | French | alliance | alliance, union; wedding ring |
| 4 | French | allier | to ally; to alloy |
| 5 | Old French | alier | to unite; to join together |
| 6 | Latin | alligō | to bind to, up or around something, tie, fetter, fasten; bandage |
| 7 | Latin | ad- | to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it... |
| 8 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 9 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 10 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |