Magazine - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

MAGAZINE, primarily a warehouse for goods or merchandise (Arab. makhzan, a storehouse, from khazana, to store up). In Morocco makhzan (or maghzen) has come to be used as the name of the government. The Spaniards adopted the Arabic in the form magacen, and the English form comes through the older French magazin, modern magasin. The meaning of a storehouse or large shop, common in French, is rare in English except in the military use of the term for a building for the storage of explosives and ammunition. It is applied to the chamber of a repeating rifle or machine-gun containing the supply of cartridges. The name as applied to a periodical publication containing articles on various subjects was first used in the Gentleman's Magazine (1731), described as "a monthly collection, to treasure up as in a magazine" articles on the subjects with which it was proposed to deal.