archival

See also: archivál

English

WOTD – 27 October 2022

Etymology

The adjective is derived from archive (“place for storing earlier, and often historical, material; material so kept, considered as a whole”, noun) +‎ -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).^[1]

The noun is derived from archive (“to put (something) in an archive”, verb) +‎ -al (suffix forming nouns, especially of verbal action).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɑːˈkaɪv(ə)l/, /ˈɑːkɪv(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɑɹˈkaɪv(ə)l/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (one pronunciation) -aɪvəl
• Hyphenation: ar‧chiv‧al

Adjective

archival (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to an archive or archiving.
   • 2021 March 24, Joseph Brennan, “Metallic Marvels from Rail’s Iron Age”, in Rail, number 927, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 59:

     In archival photographs, these lost structures appear almost futuristic (even today) in the way they carried trains across deep ravines on slender, balanced combinations of wrought and cast iron.

2. Of a material: having a quality suited to the conservational needs of archiving.

   archival boxes    archival paper

Derived terms

• archivalism
• archivally
• archival science
• nonarchival
• prearchival

Related terms

• archive
• archivist
• archivize
• e-archive
• national archive

Translations

of or pertaining to an archive or archiving

Belarusian: архі́ўны (arxíŭny) Czech: archivní, archívní Finnish: arkisto- French: archivistique (fr) Italian: di archiviazione, d'archiviazione Lithuanian: archỹvinis Macedonian: архивски (arhivski) Polish: archiwalny (pl) Portuguese: arquival, arquivístico Russian: архи́вный (ru) (arxívnyj) Ukrainian: архі́вний (uk) (arxívnyj)

of a material: having a quality suited to the conservational needs of archiving

Finnish: arkistokelpoinen, arkisto- (fi) Italian: archivistico

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Interlingua: (please verify) archival

Noun

archival (countable and uncountable, plural archivals)

1. (uncountable) The practice of storing items in an archive; archiving; (countable) an instance of this.

   Synonyms: (rare) archivation, (rare) archivization

   Our nightly computer backups include the archival of old e-mail messages.

Translations

practice of storing items in an archive; an instance of this

Finnish: arkistointi (fi) Italian: archiviatura f

References

1. “archival, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2018; “archival, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

• archival science on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• archive on Wikipedia.Wikipedia