1540s, "enlargement" in any dimension, from Latin amplificationem (nominative amplificatio) "a widening, extending," noun of action from past-participle stem of amplificare "to enlarge, broaden, increase," from amplus "large" (see ample) + combining form of facere "to make, do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Originally in English often of rhetorical devices; meaning "enlargement of sound by electrical technology" is from 1915.