Etymology: Partly < (i) Anglo-Norman and Middle French anexer, annexer, Middle French enexer, ennexer (French annexer ) to add (something) to a written document (1274 in Old French as annixer ), to add or attach (a person or thing) physically (1295, earliest in ennexer quelqu'un en soi ‘to make (a person) part of oneself’), to add or attach (a territory, building, etc.) as an additional part to one's existing possessions (1336), to join (one person, thing, quality, etc.) to another (14th cent.), ultimately < classical Latin annectere (see note below), and partly < (ii) classical Latin annex-, adnex-, past participial stem of annectere, adnectere to tie on, fasten, attach, to connect or link (places), to add or appropriate (territory), to attach or connect (to a family), to attach (in speech or writing) < ad- ad- prefix + nectere to tie, bind (see nexus n.). Compare later annect v. Compare also annexation n.Compare post-classical Latin annexare to attach, append, join on (from 1279 in British and from 1310 in continental sources, especially with reference to land or property), Old Occitan anexar (1470), Catalan annexar (1509), Spanish anexar (late 13th cent.), Portuguese anexar (1460; 1344 as †anaxar ). Etymology of the French verb. Middle French, French annexer is usually considered a derivative originally < annexe (adjective), in later use also partly < annexe (noun) (for both, see annexe n.). However, in view of the fact that the French verb is attested in a large number of senses from an early date, while early evidence for the adjective is scarcer, it is possible that the verb's immediate source is either post-classical Latin annexare (see above) or perhaps annexere , a variant (10th cent. in continental sources) of classical Latin annectere . See further the discussion in Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch XXIV. at annexus. Specific forms. The form adnex shows alteration after classical Latin ad- ad- prefix; compare Middle French (rare) adnexer (1364). In the past participial form annex after classical Latin annexus, past participle of annectere . Historical stress variation. N.E.D. (1884) only gives the pronunciation (ăne·ks) /əˈnɛks/ with stress on the second syllable, as do nearly all British and U.S. pronouncing and general dictionaries. The alternative pronunciation with first-syllable stress appears to be of recent origin, and to be influenced by annexe n. (see the etymological note on pronunciation at that entry).