Embassage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for the mission or errand entrusted to an ambassador ; a message or communication delivered by such an envoy on behalf of a ruler or state
2. Old word for the task of an envoy sent to represent a sovereign ; the formal communication that an emissary carries to a foreign court
3. Describes the commission given to a diplomat abroad ; the spoken or written message that a go-between delivers for a government

Etymology: "Embassage" is a variant of "ambassade," which came into English from French "ambassade." The French word in turn descends from Italian "ambasciata," a message or mission, and it belongs to the same family as "ambassador," with the sense of a diplomatic mission or the business an envoy is sent to carry out. The spelling "embassage" shows the word's path through French more clearly than the modern "embassy" does. English speakers once used several near-synonyms for the same idea, and "embassage" survived as one of the less common forms, meaning the official errand on which an envoy is dispatched rather than the building or staff that later came to be called an embassy.