Etymologically
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amplificatio

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Forms

amplificātiō f (genitive amplificātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin amplificō (“to enlarge”) + -tiō, a noun of action.[2][1] That verb is made from amplus (“large”) and the combining form of faciō (“to make”).[3] De Vaan derives amplus from Proto-Italic *am-lo- (“seizable”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₃mh₃- (“to grab”), noting that the change of ⟨*-ml-⟩ to ⟨-mpl-⟩ needs an early syncope that is hard to explain.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it as a term of rhetoric, defining it as a commonplace used to rouse the audience,[5][2][6] and Cicero, in the Verrines, uses it of making something greater.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In its general sense it is an increase or enlargement: Cicero speaks of the increase of one's estate and of honour and glory in De officiis.[7][2] Lewis & Short think this sense perhaps only Ciceronian.[7]

Its main use is in rhetoric, for making much of a point, amplification:[2][7] besides the Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero in De inventione and the Partitiones oratoriae and Quintilian treat it as a device of oratory,[2] and one definition the TLL quotes calls it speech that moves the hearer to anger or to pity.[5] The Rhetorica ad Herennium also uses it of the tone of voice suited to such passages.[2] English took over amplification in the 1540s, at first often of rhetorical devices.[3]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium defines it as a term of rhetoric.[5][2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of increase and of rhetorical amplification.[2][7][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian treats it in his Institutio oratoria.[2][6]
  • 1540s – English borrows it as amplification.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A making greater, increasing, enlargement.[2][7][8]
  2. (rhetoric) Enlarging upon a point, amplification;[2][7] the tone of voice suited to it.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson