arrive [ME] Initially the main meaning of arrive was ‘to come ashore or into port after a voyage’. You could also talk about ‘arriving’ a ship or a group of passengers, meaning to bring them to shore. Only gradually did the more general sense of ‘to reach a destination, come to the end of a journey’ develop. Arrive comes from the Old French word ariver, ultimately from Latin ad- ‘to’ and ripa ‘shore’ also the source of *river.