magma

Forms

magma n (genitive magmatis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μάγμα (mágma, “a thick unguent”),^[2][3][1] which is formed from the root of μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”),^[1][4] from Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, fashion, fit”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the physician Scribonius Largus, meaning the dregs of an ointment.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder explains the word: faecem unguenti magma appellant “they call the dregs of an ointment magma”.^[3] The OLD defines it as the half-solid residue left by an unguent.^[2]

English took it in the mid-15th century for dregs or any crude mixture of organic matter; the geological sense of molten rock dates from about 1859.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it in a prescription.^[3][5][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder explains it as the dregs of an ointment.^[3][6]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as magma, dregs.^[4]
• 1859 – The geological sense, molten rock, appears in English.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The half-solid residue or dregs of an unguent.^[2][3][5]

Related words

• English magma

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de