Etymologically
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multiplico

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mʊɫˈtɪ.plɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [mulˈtiː.pli.ko][1]

Forms

multiplicō (present infinitive multiplicāre, perfect active multiplicāvī, supine multiplicātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin multiplex (“manifold”) + -ō, as Priscian already saw.[2][3][4] Wiktionary analyses it as multus (“much”) with plicō (“to fold”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero writes to his brother that they may come away with their glory multiplied.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to increase in number, quantity or extent, to multiply: Caesar has debt multiplied, a letter of Plancus forces and auxiliaries increased, and Ovid rivers swollen by gathered waters.[2][4] Livy uses it of holding high offices many times over, and Curtius of a sound multiplied by echo in the woods.[2] In mathematics it is to multiply: Vitruvius reckons that a side of 14 feet gives 196 square feet.[2] Late texts such as the Itala, the Vulgate psalms and Martianus Capella have shortened perfect forms like multiplicāstī.[3] Church Latin also uses it of enriching.[5] English multiply (mid-12th century) came through Old French multiplier.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of multiplied glory.[2]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of debt.[4]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius of arithmetical multiplication.[2]
  • mid-12th century – English multiply.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To increase, augment, multiply; to hold or do many times over; to multiply a sound by echo.[2][4][1][5]
  2. (mathematics) To multiply.[2][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To enrich.[5]

Word family

  • multiplicābilis
  • multiplicātiō
  • multiplicātīvus
  • multiplicātor
  • multiplicus

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com