Miniature
late 16th century: from Italian miniatura, via medieval Latin from Latin miniare ‘rubricate, illuminate’, from minium ‘red lead, vermilion’ (used to mark particular words in manuscripts).
wiktionary
Borrowed from Italian miniatura(“ manuscript illumination”), from miniare(“to illuminate”), from Latin miniō(“to colour red”), from minium(“ red lead”).
etymonline
miniature (n.)
1580s, "a reduced image, anything represented on a greatly reduced scale," especially a painting of very small dimensions, from Italian miniatura "manuscript illumination or small picture," from past participle of miniare "to illuminate a manuscript," from Latin miniare "to paint red," from minium "red lead," used in ancient times to make red ink, a word said to be of Iberian origin. Sense development is because pictures in medieval manuscripts were small, but no doubt there was influence as well from the similar-sounding Latin words that express smallness: minor, minimus, minutus, etc.
miniature (adj.)
"on a small scale, much reduced from natural size," 1714, from miniature (n.). Of dog breeds, from 1889. Of golf played on a miniature course, from 1893.
