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archives [archives 词源字典]: archives: [17] The Greek verb arkhein meant originally ‘begin’ – and hence ‘be in first place, rule’. This sense development lies behind the diversity in meaning of the words ultimately derived from it in English. Greek arkheion was the official residence of a ruler, a ‘public office’, and its plural, arkheia, was used for ‘public records’; it passed into English via Latin archīa, later archīva, and French archives.

Greek arkhē, on the other hand, had the sense ‘beginning’, and the adjective formed from it, arkhaios, later arkhaikós, ‘ancient’, came through French archaïque into English as archaic [19] (arkhaios is also the source of archaeology [17]). The same split in meaning is evident in the prefix arch-, which comes from the same source: in archetype, for instance, it signifies ‘first’, whereas in archduke it implies ‘highest in rank’.
=> archaic, archetype[archives etymology, archives origin, 英语词源]
prince: prince: [13] A prince is etymologically someone who ‘takes first place’, hence a ‘leader’. The word comes via Old French prince from Latin princeps, a compound formed from prīmus ‘first’ (source of English prime) and capere ‘take’ (source of English captive, capture, etc). (German fürst ‘prince’ was derived from Old High German furist ‘first’, apparently in imitation of the Latin word.) The derivative princess [14] was also acquired from Old French.
=> first, prime
-arch: word-forming element meaning "a ruler," from Greek arkhos "leader, chief, ruler," from arkhe "beginning, origin, first place" (see archon).
-archy: word-forming element meaning "rule," from Latin -archia, from Greek -arkhia "rule," from arkhos "leader, chief, ruler," from arkhe "beginning, origin, first place" (see archon).
Appalachia: "cultural and geographical region of inland Eastern U.S.," 1880s, from the Appalachian Mountains, which are its core. Earlier Appalachia was proposed as a better name for "United States of America" by Washington Irving in 1839 (though he preferred Alleghenia) and this may have been the coinage of the word.
It is a thousand pities that the puny witticisms of a few professional objectors should have the power to prevent, even for a year, the adoption of a name for our country. At present we have, clearly, none. There should be no hesitation about "Appalachia." In the first place, it is distinctive. "America" is not, and can never be made so. We may legislate as much as we please, and assume for our country whatever name we think right â but to use it will be no name, to any purpose for which a name is needed, unless we can take it away from the regions which employ it at present. South America is "America," and will insist upon remaining so. [Edgar Allan Poe, 1846]
archives (n.): c. 1600, from French archif (16c.), from Late Latin archivum (singular), from Greek ta arkheia "public records," plural of arkheion "town hall," from arkhe "government," literally "beginning, origin, first place" (see archon).
firstly (adv.): "in the first place, before anything else," 1530s, but never a common word (simple first usually serving its place), from first + -ly (2).
foremost (adj.): Middle English formest, from Old English fyrmest, formest "earliest, first, most prominent," from Proto-Germanic *furmista-/*frumista- (related to Old English fruma "beginning"), from PIE *pre-mo-, suffixed (superlative) form of root *per- (1) "forward, through; before; first" (see per) + additional superlative suffix -est. For the -m-, see -most, and compare similarly formed Old Frisian formest, Gothic frumists. Altered on the assumption that it is a compound of fore and most. The same compound without the superlative -m- is first. Also in Old English as an adverb, "first of all, at first, in the first place."
lead (v.1): "to guide," Old English lædan "cause to go with one, lead, guide, conduct, carry; sprout forth; bring forth, pass (one's life)," causative of liðan "to travel," from Proto-Germanic *laidjan (cognates: Old Saxon lithan, Old Norse liða "to go," Old High German ga-lidan "to travel," Gothic ga-leiþan "to go"), from PIE *leit- "to go forth."

Meaning "to be in first place" is from late 14c. Sense in card playing is from 1670s. Related: Led; leading. Lead-off "commencement, beginning" attested from 1879; lead-in "introduction, opening" is from 1928.
a cappella: "(With reference to choral music) sung without instrumental accompaniment", Italian, literally 'in chapel style'. More chapel from Middle English:The first place to be called a chapel was named after the holy relic preserved in it, the cape of St Martin. The Latin word cappella, meaning ‘little cape’, was applied to the building itself and eventually to any holy sanctuary. Chaplain (Middle English) is a related word, which referred initially to an attendant entrusted with guarding the cape. The Latin form remains unchanged in the musical term a cappella, which means ‘sung without instrumental accompaniment’ but is literally ‘in chapel style’. See also cap