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Origin and history of a.m.

a.m.

also a.m., 1762 in reference to hours, an abbreviation of Latin ante meridiem "before noon" (q.v.). Synonymous with "morning" by 1776. AM as a type of radio wave broadcast, 1921, abbreviation of amplitude modulation (see amplitude). Affixed to a name, an abbreviation of artium magister "Master of Arts," an abbreviation preferable in a purely Latin idiom; British English preferred M.A. (magister artium, 1730). In some old chronologies, a.m. is anno mundi "year of the world."

Entries linking to a.m.

amplitude(n.)

1540s, "state or quality of being ample," from French amplitude or directly from Latin amplitudinem (nominative amplitudo) "wide extent, width," from amplus "large, spacious" (see ample). Amplitude modulation in reference to radio wave broadcast (as opposed to frequency modulation) is first attested 1921, usually abbreviated A.M. Related: Amplitudinous.

ante meridiem

"of morning, before mid-day," 1560s, Latin, literally "before noon," from ante "before" (from PIE root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before") + accusative of meridies "midday, noon" (see meridian). The adjective antemeridian is attested from 1650s.

frequency(n.)

1550s, "state of being crowded" (now obsolete); 1640s, "fact of occurring often;" from Latin frequentia "an assembling in great numbers, a crowding; crowd, multitude, throng," from frequentem (see frequent). Sense in physics, "rate of recurrence," especially of a vibration, is from 1831. In radio electronics, frequency modulation (1922, abbreviated F.M.) as a system of broadcasting is distinguished from amplitude modulation (or A.M.).

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    Trends of a.m.

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    undern
    an obsolete Old English and Middle English word for "morning;" in Old English originally "third hour of the day; 9 a.m."...By extension, "period from 9 a.m. to noon;" but from 13c. shifting to "midday, noon" (as in undern-mete "lunch," 14c.); and...
    prime
    "earliest canonical hour of the day" (6 a.m.), from Old English prim and Old French prime and directly from Medieval Latin...By extension, "the first division of the day" 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (early 13c.)....
    tierce
    Also used in Middle English for "a third part" (late 15c.), "the third hour of the canonical day" (ending at 9 a.m.), late...
    dinner
    c. 1300, "first big meal of the day" (eaten between 9 a.m. and noon), from Old French disner "breakfast" (11c.), noun use...middle of the eighteenth century, was to take this meal about midday, or in more primitive times even as early as 9 or 10 A.M...
    button-hole
    From nine 'till eleven o'clock, a.m., hobnobbing and canoodling had been the order of the day....
    stoke
    Having "stoked up," as the men called it, the brigades paraded at 10.30 a.m., ready for the next stage of the march....
    New Year's Eve
    In Pepys' day the turning of the year was celebrated at 1 a.m....
    am
    first-person singular present indicative of be (q.v.); Old English eom "to be, to remain," (Mercian eam, Northumbrian am), from Proto-Germanic *izm(i)-, from PIE *esmi- (source also of Old Norse emi, Gothic im, Hittite esmi, Old Church Slavonic jesmi, Lithuanian esmi), first-pers
    modulation
    late 14c., modulacioun, "act of singing or making music, harmony," from Old French modulation "act of making music" (14c.) and directly from Latin modulationem (nominative modulatio) "rhythmical measure, singing and playing, melody," noun of action from past-participle stem of mo
    cinema
    1899, "movie hall," from French cinéma, shortened from cinématographe "device for projecting a series of photographs in rapid succession so as to produce the illusion of movement," coined 1890s by Lumiere brothers, who invented the technology, from Latinized form of Greek kinēmat

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