Etymologically
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magazine

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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