Authoritative answer

Exact answer

Magazine came through French from Arabic makhazin, the plural of makhzan, a storehouse. The publication sense treated a periodical as a storehouse of material.

Scope: Recorded English etymology and sense history; reviewed July 31, 2026.

Important boundary: The answer distinguishes the older storehouse sense from the later periodical sense.

Evidence

Quick answer

A short etymology card for magazine: origin, meaning history, memorable hook, and source-language context.

Source-first Reviewed Sep 2026

Origin story

From makhazin, storehouses, through French and Italian, later a storehouse of articles.

Why it sticks

A publication began as a warehouse.