multitude

Pronunciation

• UK: /ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/^[1]
• US: /ˈmʌltəˌt(j)ud/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English multitude,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman multitude and multitude (in Old French from 1155),^[4][5] and their source, Latin multitūdō (“a great number, a crowd; the common people”).^[4][6][7][8] The Latin noun is formed from multus (“much, many”) and the suffix -tūdō, the source of -tude.^[6][7][8][9] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace the Latin adjective to Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“strong, great, numerous”).^[6][3] The OED compares Catalan multitud (about 1300) and the Spanish and Italian forms.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Both the quality of being many and a very large number of people or things: about 1350, in a Psalter and in a version of the Apocalypse.^[4] Barnhart dates the word to about 1340, in Richard Rolle's Psalter,^[7] and Etymonline to the early 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also meant a great amount of something, and any number or total, not necessarily large;^[2][4] the plural multitudes is in Chaucer.^[4] A gathering of people, a crowd or host, is recorded from before 1382, in the Wycliffite Bible,^[4][2] and the multitude, the populace or the common people, often with disdain, from 1535, in Coverdale's Bible.^[4] Weekley notes that the old sense "numerousness" survives in the biblical multitude of counsellors (Proverbs 11:14).^[10] Johnson (1755) listed "the state of being many" first among the senses.^[11] The adjective multitudinous dates from 1629, in Donne.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – the quality of being many; a great number.^[4]
• before 1382 – a crowd, a host.^[4]
• c. 1390 – plural, large numbers.^[4]
• 1535 – the multitude, the common people.^[4]
• 1611 – a number of undesirable things, often with verbs of covering or hiding.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A very large number of people or things: a multitude of small islands.^[12][13][4]
2. A large gathering of people; a crowd or throng.^[12][13][4]
3. the multitude: ordinary people as a whole; the masses.^[12][13][4]
4. The state of being numerous; numerousness.^[12][13][4]

Word family

• multitudinous

Related words

• multi-
• multiply
• multiple
• -tude

Usage notes

The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, distinguished the word from its synonyms: a multitude, however great, may be spread over a large space, while a throng presses together or forward and a crowd is close enough for uncomfortable contact.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster