Embassies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Structures or offices representing a nation in a foreign country that conduct diplomatic relations
2. Places where ambassadors reside and work to manage international affairs and negotiations
3. Institutions tasked with promoting their home country's interests abroad through various diplomatic efforts

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "embassies" is that the word for an official foreign mission once meant a servant. Its ancestor, the Gaulish "ambaxtos", literally meant "one who is sent around", a dependant or vassal who carried messages for a lord. The Proto-Germanic descendant, "ambahtaz", meant "follower" or "servant", and the idea of a person sent on errands gradually stretched into the idea of a message, then a mission carrying that message. The journey into English was long and roundabout. Gaulish "ambaxtos" passed into Late Latin as "ambactia", meaning "service rendered", and then into Old Occitan as "ambaissada", which spread into Old Italian as "ambasciata" and Old French as "ambascee". Middle French "ambassee" meant a mission or embassy, and English borrowed it as "ambassy", which later became "embassy". The word "ambassade" is a doublet, a sibling borrowed separately through another route. "Embassies" is simply the plural of "embassy", so it refers to several of these foreign missions, or the buildings that house them.

Synonyms: missions, consulates