1 Answer
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to illuminate (verb) = to shine light on [something].
From Latin:
prefix: “in-” = in, into
root: “lumen” (noun) = light,
suffix: “-ate” = used to indicate “to make [something be] …”, or “to cause [something to be]…”.
So literally “illuminate” means “to cause [something] to be in light”.
More precisely, “illuminate” is derived from “in” + a Latin verb “luminare” = to lighten. The past participle of “luminare” is “luminatus” = lightened, lit, caused to be in light. The English suffix “-ate” is derived from the Latin suffix of the past participle, “-atus”. When a Latin verb ends in “-are”, the English equivalent verb that’s derived from it usually ends in “-ate”, derived from this Latin “-atus”. For example: to advocate is derived from Latin “advocare” = to call, to summon, “advocatus” = (that which is) called/summoned.
However, sometimes English verbs are invented by analogy that end in “-ate”, but that aren’t derived from an existing Latin verb that ends in “-are”. An example is “to eventuate”. There is no Latin verb “eventuare”, although the root “eventu(s)” is from Latin.
