"Archive" is a short form of the adjective "archival". Indicates the meaning of the subject or phenomenon under discussion for the speaker. Synonyms - extremely important, extremely important, very important.
Antonyms of the word: insignificant, unimportant, trifling.
Nowadays the word "archival" has acquired a playful, ironic, somewhat bookish connotation.
Origin
The prefix of Greek origin "archi" (meaning "senior", "chief" in translation) originally served to designate special, supreme positions in the hierarchical clergy: archbishop, archdeacon, bishop. All these positions, by the way, still exist, and these words, therefore, are in use.
In ancient Greek and liturgical literature there is also a noun "archistrategos". It denoted the supreme commander, as well as the senior angel among the heavenly angelic forces.
Use
Later, the prefix became widespread and began to be used with nouns to refer to persons, about qualitieswhich - personal or professional - the speaker has a high opinion. So, instead of "a rogue" he will say "an arch-rogue", instead of "talent" he will say "an arch-talent", instead of "hard worker" he will respectfully pronounce "arch-worker".
The prefix can also be used with adjectives to report the higher properties of an object or phenomenon: "super ridiculous", "super difficult", "super stupid", "super interesting", etc.
It should be noted that, since the word clearly has an ironic connotation, in our time, wanting to give words seriousness, the prefix "archi" is likely to be replaced by other, more modern ones: super important, mega important, super important. Either the simplest is very important.
Lenin's favorite word
This word could have been used even before Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, but it was the leader of the world proletariat who brought it to the masses. There is documentary evidence of how much Ilyich loved this word: on the documents of those years, his own resolution was preserved: "Archive!"
Here is an excerpt from Lenin's theses, written on the article by Nadezhda Konstantinovna Krupskaya "On Polytechnic Education":
This is paramount. We are beggars. We need carpenters, a locksmith, right away. Undoubtedly. Everyone should become carpenters, locksmiths, etc., but with such and such an addition of a general education and polytechnic minimum.
There is evidence that Lenin also used other wordssimilar construction: "very interesting" and "difficult task".
Considerable merit in the popularization of "archival" belongs to the Soviet cinema, in the films of which the leader of the world proletariat in his speeches always uttered this word. It so happened that "archival" is Lenin's favorite word.
So it got into poetry. So, the Russian, Soviet poet, writer, publicist Alexander Levikov (real name Agranovich) wrote the lines:
"Archive!" - leader once
Drawing out on paper…
We told you that this is "archival" about the meaning and origin of the word.
