RAMIFY: to branch out
"Ramify" came into English in the 15th century as an offshoot of ramus, the Latin word for "branch." Another derivative is the now obsolete "ramage," meanint "untamed" or "wild," which originated in falconry as a word applied to young hawks that had begun to fly from branch to branch in trees. English acquired several scientific words from , including "biramous" ("having two branches"). "Ramify" itself started out as a scientific word, at first referring to branching parts of plants and trees and later to veins and nerves. But it soon branced out into nonscientific and even figurative uses, as in "ideas that ramify throughout society."
No comments:
Post a Comment