English
massive
Massive comes from Middle English massif ‘weighty, massy, weighing very much’, and goes back to Middle French massif.
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600massif
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘weighty’
- Englishearliest quotation 1959massive
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600massif
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘weighty’
- Englishearliest quotation 1959massive
Earliest quotation: 1959, Georgette Heyer: “But Richmond[…]appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.…”
Formed from mass + -ive
Ancient Greek μᾶζα ‘barley-cake, lump of dough’
Latin massa ‘lump, dough’
Anglo-Norman masse
Middle English masse ‘lump, quantity of matter’
English mass
The story
The Irish sense is possibly derived from Irish mas (‘fine, handsome’).
Every English word from Middle French massif
Today it means
adj Very large in size or extent.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle French massif / massive