Admiralty

How to spell admiralty

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce admiralty

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does admiralty mean?

1. nounThe government department or body responsible for commanding and administering a navy.
2. nounThe branch of law dealing with ships, shipping, and matters arising at sea.

Admiralty in a sentence

• The admiralty ordered the fleet to return to its home port.

• The dispute over the sunken cargo was settled in an admiralty court.

• Historians studied the records held by the admiralty during the war years.

• She specialises in admiralty and advises shipping companies on collision claims.

Where does admiralty come from?

Language of origin: Arabic

This word traces back to the Arabic amir, meaning 'commander' or 'chief', which appears in titles such as amir al-bahr, 'commander of the sea'. Medieval Mediterranean trade and warfare carried the title westward, and Old French adopted it as amiral or admiral. The unexpected 'd' was inserted in the Middle Ages because scribes wrongly associated the word with the Latin verb admirari, meaning 'to wonder at' or 'to admire', even though the two are unrelated. English took the word in during the 1200s and 1300s, and by adding the suffix -ty it formed admiralty, the office, rank, or governing body of an admiral. The same misplaced 'd' is exactly the spelling trap today: the word looks as if it should belong to the 'admire' family, yet its true root is a sea commander, not admiration.

How the word is built

• admiral (naval commander, ultimately from Arabic amir 'commander')
• -ty (noun suffix denoting office, rank, or jurisdiction)