The noun is borrowed from French archive, archif, from Late Latin archīvum, archīum (“archive; room containing an archive; public record office”), from Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon, “office of a magistrate; public building or office; town hall; (in the plural) archives; public records”), a noun use of the neuter form of *ἀρχεῖος (*arkheîos, “relating to an office”), from ᾰ̓ρχή (ărkhḗ, “beginning, origin; authority, sovereignty”) (from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin; to govern, rule”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit; to fix; to put together”), or *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin; to command; to rule”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from the noun.
› Chiefly in the form archives.
1
A repository or other place for storing material (such as documents and records) no longer in current use, and usually having historical value.
The chiefeſt of the firſt Precinct vvas Lubeck, vvhere the Archives of their ancient Records, and their prime Chancery is ſtill, […]1632 October 29 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “III. To the Right Honourable the Earl R. from Hamburgh.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 222:
The preſident accepted the Marquis's ſvvord—he ſtay'd a fevv minutes to ſee it depoſited in the archives of his houſe—and departed.1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “The Sword. Rennes.”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume II, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, page 56:
2 more examples
The court, however, was relieved from giving judgment on the case before it, by the death of the prince, which put a stop to its proceedings; the minutes of which were sealed up in a green coffer, and, by order of the king, deposited in the archive of Simancas by Christóval de Mora.1851, Adolfo de Castro, chapter XXI, in Thomas Parker, transl., The Spanish Protestants, and Their Persecution by Philip II.; a Historical Work, […], London: Charles Gilpin, […]; Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black; Dublin: J. B. Gilpin, →OCLC, page 324:
"I don't know how one could be interested in libraries and not archives," [Thomas] Lannon told me. They tell you "the stories behind things," he said, "the unpublished, the hard to find, the true story."2017 September 20, James Somers, “Keepers of the Secrets”, in The Village Voice, New York, N.Y.: Village Voice, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 May 2026:
2
The material so stored, considered as a whole.
His archive of Old High German texts is the most extensive in Britain.
[H]e took a particular Journy to Sparta, to ſearch the Archives of that famous Commonvvealth, to underſtand throughly the model of their ancient Government, their Legiſlators, their Kings, and their Ephori, […]1683, John Dryden, “The Life of Plutarch”, in Plutarch, Plutarchs Lives. Translated from the Greek […], volume I, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, pages 22–23:
1 more example
[…] I found [G. D.] busy as a moth over some rotten archive, rummaged out of some seldom-explored press, in a nook at Oriel.1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], “Oxford in the Vacation”, in Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 21:
› Chiefly in the form archives. › The material so stored, considered as a whole.
3
Biology, Ecology, Natural sciencesBroadly A natural deposit of material, regarded as a record of environmental changes over time.
peat archive soil archive
Even these 100,000-year cycles seem to be subject to still longer fluctuations, but here the historical archive begins to be less reliable. The ice archive, in any case, can no longer help us (ice clearly does not preserve prehistorical temperatures directly, but rather atmospheric isotope signals, which are just as dependable).2017, Dag Olav Hessen, “Between a Snowball and Hell”, in Kerri Pierce, transl., The Many Lives of Carbon, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, part II (The C in Cycle), page 178:
[T]heſe curious meddlers in collecting and gathering together on all ſides the errours, imperfections, defaults, and ſolæciſmes (as I may ſo ſay) not of verſes or Poemes, but of other mens lives, make of their memorie a moſt unpleaſant Archive or Regiſter, and uncivile Record, vvhich they ever carie about them.1603, Plutarch, “Of Cvriositie”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 140:
[S]o expert was he, and a living archive in that business: however, his post seems to have vanished with himself.1862, Thomas Carlyle, “The Homaging”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XI, page 53:
The noun is borrowed from French archive, archif, from Late Latin archīvum, archīum (“archive; room containing an archive; public record office”), from Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon, “office of a magistrate; public building or office; town hall; (in the plural) archives; public records”), a noun use of the neuter form of *ἀρχεῖος (*arkheîos, “relating to an office”), from ᾰ̓ρχή (ărkhḗ, “beginning, origin; authority, sovereignty”) (from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin; to govern, rule”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit; to fix; to put together”), or *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin; to command; to rule”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from the noun.
1
To place or store (something, such as a document or record) in an archive (noun sense 1.1).
I was planning on archiving the documents from 2001.
The library archives some of its older books.
2
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To transfer (less used or obsolete data, files, etc.) to a storage medium for long-term storage.