accumulate: [16] Accumulate was borrowed from Latin accumulāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ad-, here meaning ‘in addition’, and cumulāre ‘heap up’ (the source of English cumulative). Cumulāre itself derived from cumulus ‘heap’; English adopted this with its original Latin meaning in the 17th century, but it was not until the early 19th century that it was applied (by the meteorologist Luke Howard) to mountainous billowing cloud formations. => cumulative, cumulus
accumulate (v.)
1520s, from Latin accumulatus, past participle of accumulare "to heap up" (see accumulation). Related: Accumulated; accumulating.
