An archaic or variant form of 'embassy,' referring to the official residence of an ambassador or a diplomatic mission sent to represent one country in another.
From Old French 'ambassade' (embassy, message), which comes from medieval Italian 'ambasciata' (embassy). The root likely traces to Provençal or Arabic sources relating to 'ambassador.'
If you look at historical documents from the 1500s and 1600s, you'll see 'ambassade' used regularly, but it gradually fell out of use as 'embassy' became the standard—it's like watching a word get voted out of common usage in real time!
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