Etymologically
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magnum

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmæɡnəm/[1]
  • US: /ˈmeɪ̯ɡnəm/[1]

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Latin magnum (“a big thing”),[2][3][4][5][6] the neuter singular of magnus (“great, large”),[7][8][9][10] from Proto-Indo-European *meg- (“great”).[7][10] Klein compares Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great, large”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌺𐌹𐌻𐍃 (mikils) and Old English micel (“great, big, many”), the source of mickle.[9] The OED instead takes the bottle sense as short for magnum bonum, a borrowing of Medieval Latin magnum bonum (“a great good thing”),[11] which was used for the large bottle, chiefly in Scotland, from 1785 to 1827.[11][4] It treats the gun sense as a fresh borrowing of the Latin word, perhaps with some allusion to the bottle.[11] As the name of a powerful handgun, Magnum was registered by Smith & Wesson in 1935,[7] and Dictionary.com notes that it was first used as their trademark.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wine bottle of twice the usual size, then holding two quarts: 1788, in Robert Burns's prose works.[11][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The bottle, which the OED notes now usually holds 1½ litres, gave a short-lived use for a large glass of spirits in Dickens's Pickwick Papers (1836).[11] The word was then applied to large things of other kinds: a variety of potato (1889), short for magnum bonum,[11] and in zoology the part of a bird's oviduct that secretes albumen (1935).[11] The gun sense, a weapon firing cartridges more powerful than its calibre suggests, appears in 1935 in the US Patent Office's Official Gazette,[11] and MWU describes it as a cartridge with a larger case and powder charge than others of about the same calibre.[3] In North America the word has also been used as an adjective meaning unusually large or powerful, recorded from 1987.[11]

Timeline

  • 1785 – magnum bonum, a large bottle (Scottish, obsolete by 1827).[11]
  • 1788 – a bottle twice the standard size.[11][6][3]
  • 1836 – a large glass of spirits (obsolete).[11]
  • 1889 – a variety of potato.[11]
  • 1935 – a gun firing extra-powerful cartridges, registered by Smith & Wesson; in zoology, part of a bird's oviduct.[11][7]
  • 1987 – adjective, unusually large or powerful (North America).[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wine bottle holding twice the standard amount, now about 1.5 litres; also the amount it holds: They opened a magnum of champagne for the wedding.[2][3][11]
  2. A cartridge with a larger case and powder charge than usual for its calibre, or a gun, especially a revolver, made to fire such cartridges.[3][11]
  3. (zoology) The part of a bird's oviduct that secretes albumen.[11]

Adjective

  1. Of a cartridge or gun, more powerful than others of about the same calibre.[3][11]
  2. (North America) Unusually large or powerful.[11]

Word family

  • double magnum

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House