magnifico

Forms

magnificō (present infinitive magnificāre, perfect active magnificāvī, supine magnificātum); first conjugation^[1] The OLD records the spelling magnuficō as well.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin magnificus (“magnificent, splendid”), with the verbal ending -ō.^[2] The TLL traces it to magnus (“great”) and faciō (“to make, do”),^[3] the elements of the adjective.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,^[2][5] meaning to esteem highly or make much of someone: in the Menaechmi a speaker says that Venus chose to honour him alone of all.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Plautus and Terence use it of valuing a person highly;^[6][3] the TLL counts these, the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Pliny the Elder as the only examples before it became very common in the Bible and the Church writers.^[3] Pliny uses it for praising or recommending something: Lewis & Short quote him saying that Varro also praises the painter Arcesilaus.^[6][2]

In the Vulgate it is to glorify God, to exalt a name or a person, and even to enlarge something,^[6] and Mary's song opens magnificat anima mea Dominum, “my soul glorifies the Lord”.^[7] In Greek it usually renders μεγαλύνειν.^[3] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for magnify, glorify, praise and enlarge.^[8] English took it over through Old French magnefiier as magnify.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for holding someone in high esteem.^[2][6][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in the same sense.^[6][3][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for praising and extolling.^[2][6][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for glorifying God, as in magnificat anima mea Dominum.^[6][7][5]
• late 14th century – English borrows magnify from Old French, from the Latin verb.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To esteem greatly, to prize, make much of.^[2][6]
2. To praise, extol.^[2][6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To glorify, magnify (God); to exalt or honour.^[6][8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To enlarge.^[6][8]

Word family

• magnificatio

Related words

• magnifaciō
• magnificē
• magnificēns
• magnificenter
• magnificus
• English magnify

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Jeanneau, Gérard; Woitrain, Jean-Paul; Hassid, Jean-Claude (2017), Dictionnaire latin-français, online ed., prima-elementa.fr
8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson