Etymology and origin of the Latin word purifico
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Compound
- First attested
- 23–79 Pliny the Elder More words from the 1st century
- Ultimate origin
- Latin pūrus
Etymology tree
Derivations
From the same root
Forms
pūrificō (present infinitive pūrificāre, perfect active pūrificāvī, supine pūrificātum); first conjugation[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin pūrus (“pure”) + -ficō, “to make pure”.[2][3][4] The second part goes back to faciō (“to make”).[3][4]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is post-Augustan:[3] Pliny the Elder uses it for cleansing, as when nature cleans the coats of the eyes with tears,[2] and for hens that purify themselves by shaking after laying an egg.[2]
Semantic evolution
Besides physical cleaning (muddy feet, honeycomb), it meant to clear land of brushwood, as in Gellius,[2][3] and to make ceremonially pure.[2] Later writers use it for moral and religious cleansing,[5] and Ecclesiastical Latin for purification in general;[6] from it came pūrificātiō, the purification.[1] English purify comes from it through Old French.[7]
Timeline
- 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for cleansing and for ritual purification.[2][8]
- c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it for clearing a field.[2][8]
- mid-14th century – English borrows purify from Old French.[7]
Meanings
Verb
- To cleanse, free from dirt.[2][3]
- To clear (land) of brushwood.[2]
- To make ceremonially pure, purify.[2][5]
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) To purify spiritually.[6]
Word family
- pūrificātiō
- purificatorius
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry
“Purifico.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/purifico. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.
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