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It's ante and post meridiem. Latin for "day" is "dies" as in "dies irae". So meridies is midday and am is before midday and pm after midday.
I don't think the differences between English and American usage are attributable entirely to Americans having retained the earlier style. "Gotten" is such an example. Back in the seventeenth century both "got" and "gotten" were current. The English lost "gotten" but retained "forgotten" and lost "forgot". We also kept the "t" end for past tenses instead of "ed". I have been told by an American that I must be illiterate for writing such things as "burnt", "learnt" or "spent". There is a difference about strong vs weak verbs as well. For me "to strive" is a stong verb -- simple past "strove", past participle "striven", but I have heard Americans say "strived". OTOH I was unaware of "dove" as a past for "to dive" until I came across it as an American usage.
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