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amplitudo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word amplitudo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
86/82 BC, Rhetorica ad Herennium
Ultimate origin
Latin (amplus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin amplus
Latin amplifico
Latin ample
Latin amplitudo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [am.plɪˈtuː.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [am.pliˈtuː.do][1]

Forms

amplitūdō f (genitive amplitūdinis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin amplus (“large, ample”) + -tūdō.[2][3] De Vaan derives ⟨amplus⟩ from Proto-Italic *am-lo- (“seizable”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grab”), with /ml/ becoming /mpl/ as in exemplum; he notes problems with the early loss of the vowel.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest examples are the Rhetorica ad Herennium, on the dignity and greatness of the state, and Varro, on the size of animals' limbs.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its physical sense is size, bulk, extent, and also abundance;[2][5] Lewis and Short note that it is a prose word.[2][5] Figuratively it is distinction, eminence, prestige, as of the state or a magistracy, greatness of mind (which Cicero calls the finest thing of all), and the importance of a subject.[2] In rhetoric it is the grandeur of style produced by sonorous rhythms, and amplification of an argument.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “breadth, width, amplitude; distinction”.[6] English amplitude (1540s) comes from it, partly through French.[7]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – the Rhetorica ad Herennium of the greatness of the state.[2][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of size.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of greatness of mind.[2][8]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of a grand style.[2][8]
  • 1540s – English amplitude.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Size, bulk, extent, breadth; abundance.[2][5][1][6]
  2. Distinction, eminence, prestige, greatness; importance.[2][1][6]
  3. Grandeur of style.[2]
  4. (rhetoric) Amplification.[2]

References

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

“Amplitudo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/amplitudo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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