augmento

Forms

augmentō (present infinitive augmentāre, perfect active augmentāvī, supine augmentātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin augmentum (“increase, growth”) + -ō, a late verb made from the noun,^[2][1][3] which comes from augeō (“to increase”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Firmicus Maternus (343/350 AD) has it in his work on astrology, of increasing treasures.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It remained a word of later writers.^[3][2] Ambrosiaster writes of increasing the glory of God,^[2][6] Fulgentius of a river swelling,^[2] Jerome uses it of adding something in a translation,^[2] and a Novel of Valentinian of 450 of a tax collector raising a sum for his own profit.^[2] Boethius and the mathematical writers use it for multiplying a number by itself, and Oribasius for a disease or swelling growing worse.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it covered the growth of animals and plants, the rising of water and the waxing of the moon, the enlarging of buildings and of lands and revenues, multiplying in arithmetic, and making an evil worse; it also meant to add or give besides.^[7] The MLW records spellings such as ⟨aucm-⟩, ⟨augum-⟩ and ⟨aum-⟩.^[7] English augment came from it through Old French augmenter in the late 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it of increasing treasures.^[4][3][5]
• late 4th century AD – Ambrosiaster writes of increasing the glory of God.^[2][5]
• 450 AD – A Novel of Valentinian uses it of a tax collector's gain.^[2]
• 769/777 – A Freising charter allows the use and increase of a property.^[7]
• late 14th century – English augment is taken from it through French.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin) To increase, augment, enlarge.^[4][3][2][1]
2. (Late Latin) To add (to a text).^[2]
3. (Late Latin, mathematics) To multiply (a number by itself).^[2][7]
4. (Late Latin, medicine) To make worse, aggravate; in the passive, to grow worse.^[2][7]
5. (Medieval Latin) To further, strengthen; to prosper.^[7]
6. (Medieval Latin) To give besides; to acquire in addition.^[7]

Word family

• augmentātiō

Related words

• augeō
• English augment

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com