Etymograph

English

macrophotograph

Macrophotograph comes from Ancient Greek γράφω ‘to scratch, cut into’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*grə́pʰō‘to scratch, cut or carve into’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγράφωgráphō‘to scratch, cut into’
  4. English1500–presentphotograph
  5. Englishtodaymacrophotograph

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-‘to carve’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*grə́pʰō‘to scratch, cut or carve into’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγράφωgráphō‘to scratch, cut into’
  4. English1500–presentphotograph
  5. Englishtodaymacrophotograph

A compound of macro- + photograph

Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ḱ- ‘to increase’

Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós ‘lean, meager’

Proto-Hellenic *makrós

Ancient Greek μακρός ‘long’

English macro-

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’

grammar, crawl, crab, carve, crawfish, astrophotography, 79 more

through Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō ‘to scratch, cut or carve into’

photography, graffiti, graft, demography, grimoire, ultrasonography, epigraph, sonography, 73 more

through Ancient Greek γράφω ‘to scratch, cut into’

cinema, graphic, graphite, graphene, epigram, 32 more

through English photograph

photo, 14 more

Today it means

noun A close-up photograph, showing the fine detail of something.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- / macrophotograph