Morgan on May 16, 2020 in Spanish, True Spanish Etymology Stories Posted byonin

The Eng­lish Am­bi­tion comes from the Latin root am­bi- (mean­ing “around”) plus the Latin verb ire (mean­ing “to go”): some­one who goes around. Some­one with am­bi­tion was, lit­er­al­ly, some­one who went around so­lic­it­ing votes and sup­port.

Am­biance al­so comes from the same root, am­bi-: Am­biance is re­al­ly what’s go­ing around the place you’re in. That is, the en­vi­ron­ment.

The best part: the very com­mon Span­ish word mean­ing “both”, am­bos, al­so comes from the same root, “around” — but on­ly when there are two around.