Detonate

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early 18th century: from Latin detonat- ‘thundered down or forth’, from the verb detonare, from de- ‘down’ + tonare ‘to thunder’.

wiktionary

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Borrowed from Latin detonō, detonātus. It meant "to stop thundering", e.g. as in weather (de- = "from", tonare = "to thunder"). The current English meaning seems to be a new formation in postclassical times.

etymonline

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detonate (v.)

1729, intransitive, "explode suddenly and loudly," a back-formation from detonation, or else from Latin detonatus, past participle of detonare. Transitive sense of "cause to explode" is by 1801. Related: Detonated; detonating.