Etymograph

English

magnify

Magnify comes from Latin magnificus ‘great, noble, distinguished, eminent, august’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méǵh₂s1‘big, great’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*m̥ǵh₂nós1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*magnos1‘great’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagnus1‘great, large, big’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagnificus2‘great, noble, distinguished, eminent, august’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagnificāre2
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600magnifier2
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500magnifien2
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1526magnify2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin magnificus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English magnify
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “For they herde them speake with tonges, and magnify…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méǵh₂sWiktionary, Latin magnificus‘big, great’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*m̥ǵh₂nósWiktionary, Latin magnificusreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*magnosWiktionary, Latin magnificus‘great’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagnusWiktionary, Latin magnificus‘great, large, big’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagnificusWiktionary, English magnify‘great, noble, distinguished, eminent, august’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagnificāreWiktionary, English magnify
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600magnifierWiktionary, English magnify
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500magnifienWiktionary, English magnify
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1526magnifyWiktionary, English magnify. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “For they herde them speake with tonges, and magnify…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s ‘big, great’

major, master, mayor, maxim, mair, mickle, muckle, maggiore, mahila, 16 more

through Latin magnus ‘great, large, big’

magnum, magnate, 10 more

Today it means

verb To praise, glorify (someone or something, especially God).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “magnify”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin magnificus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s / magnify

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