Origin and history of powerful

c. 1300, pouer, "ability; ability to act or do; strength, vigor, might," especially in battle; "efficacy; control, mastery, lordship, dominion, ability or right to command or control; legal power or authority; authorization; military force, an army," from Anglo-French pouair, Old French povoir, noun use of the infinitive, "to be able," earlier podir (9c.), from Vulgar Latin *potere (source also of Spanish poder, Italian potere), from Latin potis "powerful" (from PIE root *poti- "powerful; lord").

Whatever some hypocritical ministers of government may say about it, power is the greatest of all pleasures. It seems to me that only love can beat it, and love is a happy illness that can't be picked up as easily as a Ministry. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]

The meaning "one who has power, person in authority or exercising great influence in a community" is attested by late 14c. The sense of "a specific ability or capacity" is from early 15c. In mechanics, "that with which work can be done," by 1727.

The sense of "property of an inanimate thing or agency of modifying other things" is by 1590s. The meaning "a state or nation with regard to international authority or influence" [OED, 1989] is from 1726. The meaning "energy available for work" is from 1727; the sense of "electrical supply" is by 1896.

Colloquial a power of for "a large quantity of, a great number of" is from 1660s (compare powerful). Phrase the powers that be "the authorities concerned" is from Romans xiii.1. As a statement wishing good luck, more power to (someone) is recorded from 1842. A man-advantage power play in ice hockey so called by 1940. Power failure "failure of the (electrical) power supply" is from 1911; power steering in a motor vehicle is from 1921. Power politics "political action based on or backed by threats of force" (1937) translates German Macht-politik.

late Old English wunderfoll, "extraordinary, marvelous; unnatural, magical" see wonder (n.) + -ful. By c. 1200 as "of exceptional quality, so far above the common as to seem marvelous;" mid-14c. as "of the nature to excite astonishment," also "great in degree." Related: Wonderfully; wonderfulness.

In colloquial language wonderfully sometimes weakens to little more than "very;" and wonderful (like powerful) is sometimes vulgarly used as "exceedingly." The Elizabethans used wondrous and wondrously so.

Old English wundorlic "extraordinary; puzzling; divine; terrifying" survived into Middle English as wonderli.

word-forming element attached to nouns (and in modern English to verb stems) and meaning "full of, having, characterized by," also "amount or volume contained" (handful, bellyful); from Old English -full, -ful, which is full (adj.) become a suffix by being coalesced with a preceding noun, but originally a separate word. Cognate with German -voll, Old Norse -fullr, Danish -fuld. Most English -ful adjectives at one time or another had both passive ("full of x") and active ("causing x; full of occasion for x") senses.

It is rare in Old English and Middle English, where full was much more commonly attached at the head of a word (for example Old English fulbrecan "to violate," fulslean "to kill outright," fulripod "mature;" Middle English had ful-comen "attain (a state), realize (a truth)," ful-lasting "durability," ful-thriven "complete, perfect," etc.).