Etymologically
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amplifico

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [amˈplɪ.fɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [amˈpliː.fi.ko][1]

Forms

amplificō (present infinitive amplificāre, perfect active amplificāvī, supine amplificātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin amplus (“large, ample”) + -ficō, with the combining form of faciō (“to make”).[2][1][3][4] De Vaan derives amplus from Proto-Italic *am-lo- (“seizable”) and the root Proto-Indo-European *h₃mh₃- (“to grab”), but notes difficulties with the sound changes this requires.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL reads it first in Pacuvius,[3] where touching increases a cruel pain.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It means to make larger: Cicero speaks of increasing a fortune and wealth,[2][6] Valerius Maximus of increasing the number of the senate, and the Vulgate of widening the entrance of a house.[2][6] Of sound it is to make louder.[2][6] Seneca uses it of what strengthens and enlarges the mind.[2] Of persons it is to advance someone's influence and prestige, as when Cicero says the Roman people had always defended, advanced and honoured him.[2] It also means to praise loudly, to extol, and in rhetoric to enlarge upon and magnify a point: Cicero says an accuser must magnify in words the impulse of the accused.[2] Stelten gives "increase" for Church Latin.[7] Through Old French it is the source of the English amplify.[4]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of increasing pain.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of increasing wealth and of rhetorical amplification.[2][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of enlarging the mind.[2]
  • early 15th century – amplify appears in English, from Old French.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make larger, enlarge, extend, increase; to make (a sound) louder.[2][6][1]
  2. To increase the influence or prestige of, advance.[2]
  3. To praise loudly, extol, exalt.[2][1]
  4. (rhetoric) To enlarge upon, magnify, emphasize.[2][6]

Word family

  • amplificātiō
  • amplificātor
  • amplificatrix
  • amplificē
  • amplificus

References

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