When the term promulgate (“to make widely known”) was first introduced into the English language in 1526, it was spelled promulgat, and this spelling remained until the late seventeenth century when the e was standardized. It originates from the Latin word promulgatus, the past participle of the verb promulgare, which also means “to make widely known”. There are two main theories regarding its root. The prefix pro- means “forth”, and the root could be derived from either an alteration of vulgare, meaning “to publish”, or mulgere, which meant “to milk” or metaphorically “to bring forth”. Personally, I find the second explanation more plausible as it seems unlikely to me that an m would simply change to a v without being influenced by another word. Mulgere comes from the Proto-Indo-European word melg, meaning “to wipe off”.
