plethora

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈplɛθəɹə/, /ˈplɛðəɹə/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin plethora,^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek πληθώρα (plēthṓra, “fullness”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from plḗthein “to be full”,^[2][3][4][5] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pelə- (“to fill”).^[2][4] Merriam-Webster gives the Latin as Medieval Latin and RHWU as New Latin.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In medicine, a condition caused by an excess of blood or other body fluid.^[4][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The OED records a figurative sense of over-fullness or unhealthy excess from 1597,^[7] while Barnhart and Etymonline date the sense “too much” to 1700.^[3][4] The word is now used mainly of an abundance or excess of anything,^[2][5][6][1] and RHWU marks the medical sense archaic.^[6]

Timeline

• 1541 – the medical sense;^[7][5][3] Etymonline gives the 1540s.^[4]
• 1597 – figurative over-fullness.^[7]
• 1700 – too much of anything.^[3][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An excess or overabundance; also, a great amount.
2. (medicine) An excess of blood in the body or in one part of it.

Word family

• plethoric

References

1. [1] [2] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press