advantage: [14] Advantage comes from Old French avantage, which was based on avant ‘before’; the notion behind its formation was of being ahead of others, and hence in a superior position. As with advance, the intrusive -dbecame established in the 16th century, on the analogy of words genuinely containing the Latin prefix ad-. The reduced form vantage actually predates advantage in English, having entered the language via Anglo-Norman in the 13th century.
