† ambohtn.

Etymology: Probably < early Scandinavian *ambǫht (compare Old Icelandic ambátt , ambótt slave woman, female servant, handmaid, Old Swedish ambat , ambot , ambut female servant), cognate with Old English ambiht , (Northumbrian) embiht , Middle Dutch ambacht , Old Saxon ambahteo , Old High German ambaht , (with different stem class) ambahti , Gothic andbahts , all masculine nouns in the sense ‘servant, attendant’ (in Gothic glossing ancient Greek διάκονος deacon n.¹) < the same Germanic base as Old English ambiht , (Northumbrian) embiht , Old Frisian ombecht , ambecht , Old Dutch ambaht (Middle Dutch ambacht , ampt , ambt , etc., Dutch ambacht craft, occupation, ambt office), Old Saxon ambaht (Middle Low German ambacht , ampt , amt , etc.), Old High German ambaht (Middle High German ambahte , ampt , amt , etc., German Amt ), Old Icelandic embætti , Old Swedish æmbete , æmbite (Swedish ämbete ), Old Danish embede (Danish embede ), Gothic andbahti , neuter nouns apparently originally meaning ‘service’, but already in the older Germanic languages also showing the later dominant sense ‘office’ (compare amtman n.), ultimately < a Celtic language; compare ( < Gaulish) classical Latin ambactus servant, retainer, and see discussion at ambassade n.In Old English apparently always a strong masculine (when denoting persons), while the Scandinavian nouns are strong feminine. Unlike the Scandinavian words, the attested forms of the Old English word probably show i-mutation in the second syllable, caused by a following suffix (compare Old High German ambahti and also (weak) Old Saxon ambahteo); they also often show subsequent raising of the resultant e to i before the following palatal fricative. The east midland provenance of the Ormulum together with the form and sense of the word (neither of which are paralleled in the Old English cognate) make borrowing from Scandinavian very likely.