pl. ir, f. [cp. Ulf. andbahts = διάκονος, ύπηρέτης; A. S. ambight; Hel. ambaht, servitium; O. H. G. ampaht; hence the mod. Germ. amt, Dan. embede, Icel. embætti; the mod. Rom. ambassador, ambassade are of the same stock; Ital. ambasciadore, nuntius; cp. Caes. Bell. Gall. 6. 15—circum se ambactos clientesque habent, v. Diez on this root. The Icel. am- is an assimilated form from and-], a bondwoman, handmaid; þræll eðr a., Grág. ii. 152, 156. (where the older form ambótt), N. G. L. i. 76; konungs a., freq. of a royal concubine, Fms. i. 14, Fagrsk. ch. 21: cp. embætta and embætti. Cp. also mod. ambaga, u, f. an awkward person; amböguligr, adj. and ambögu-skapr, m. clumsy manners, perh. all of them related to ambótt.

COMPDS: ambáttarbarn, ambáttardóttir, ambáttarligr, ambáttarmót, ambáttarsonr, ambáttafang.