magazine

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌmæɡəˈziːn/, /ˈmæɡəˌziːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French magasin (“warehouse, depot”),^[2][3][4][5] from Italian magazzino (“storehouse”),^[2][4][5][6] from Arabic مخازن (makhāzin, “storehouses”), plural of makhzan “storehouse”,^[2][3][4][5] from khazana “to store up”.^[2][4][5] Merriam-Webster gives the route through Old Occitan instead of Italian.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A storehouse or warehouse for goods (1583).^[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 1590s the word specialized to a store of arms and gunpowder for an army.^[7][4][5] From about 1640 it was used figuratively in book titles for a “storehouse” of information,^[6] and in 1731 The Gentleman's Magazine gave it its sense of a periodical with miscellaneous writings.^[6][5][4] The firearm sense, the chamber holding cartridges, dates from 1868.^[5] The original sense “warehouse” is now almost obsolete.^[5][7]

Timeline

• 1583 – a storehouse, a warehouse.^[7][3][4]
• 1589 – the contents of a military store.^[7][4]
• 1596 – a store for gunpowder and explosives.^[7][4]
• about 1640 – used figuratively in book titles.^[6]
• 1731 – a periodical, The Gentleman's Magazine.^[6][5][4]
• 1868 – the cartridge chamber of a repeating rifle.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A periodical publication containing articles, stories and pictures.
2. A storeroom for ammunition and explosives, as in a fort or warship.
3. A compartment in a firearm holding cartridges to be fed into the chamber.
4. A compartment in a camera or other apparatus holding a supply of film or material.
5. A radio or television programme of short items on various topics.

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press