English
mollification
Mollification comes from Latin mollificātiō, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mel- ‘to worry, be late’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mel-1‘to worry, be late’root named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmollificātiō1
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400mollificacion1
- Englishtodaymollification1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English mollification
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mel-Wiktionary, English mollification‘to worry, be late’root named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmollificātiōWiktionary, English mollification
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400mollificacionWiktionary, English mollification
- EnglishtodaymollificationWiktionary, English mollification
Equivalent to mollify + -ification
Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- ‘to soften, melt’
…
Proto-Italic *moldus
Latin mollis ‘soft’
Late Latin mollificō
Middle English mollifien ‘to soften’
English mollify
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mel- ‘to worry, be late’
multiple, multitude, amelia, mole, mucho, muy, dulcimer, multifarious, 27 more
Today it means
noun The act of mollifying.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “mollification”. 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 *mel- / mollification