ambit

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₁ey-“to go”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂ent-“front; face; forehead”
3. Latin · derived fromambitus“circuit; circumference, perimeter; area within a perimeter; ground around a building; cycle, orbit, revolution”
4. Middle English · inherited fromambyte
5. English todayambit

From Late Middle English ambyte, borrowed from Latin ambitus (“circuit; circumference, perimeter; area within a perimeter; ground around a building; cycle, orbit, revolution”) (compare Late Latin ambitus (“neighbourhood; wall of a castle, monastery, or town; cloister; parish boundary”)), from ambīre + -tus (suffix forming verbal nouns from verbs). Ambīre is the present active infinitive of ambiō (“to go around, to skirt; to encircle, surround”), from ambi- (“prefix meaning ‘both, on both sides’”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (“front; face; forehead”)) + eō (“to go, move”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”)). The English word is a doublet of ambitus.

Words from the same roots