alloy: [16] The notion of ‘mixing’ in alloy originated in the idea of ‘binding’ in Latin ligāre ‘tie’ (source of English ligament, ligature, and lien – via Old French loien from Latin ligāmen ‘bond’). Addition of the prefix ad- gave alligāre ‘bind one thing to another’, hence ‘combine’. This passed into Old French as aleier, where it eventually became aloier – hence English alloy. => ally, lien, ligament, ligature
