'many-sporangiate' originates from English as a compound of Old English 'manig'/'many' and Neo-Latin 'sporangium' with the adjectival suffix '-ate', where 'manig' meant 'many' and 'sporangium' meant 'spore-vessel'.

'sporangium' comes from Greek 'sporangion' (from 'spora' meaning 'seed' or 'spore' + 'angeion' meaning 'vessel'), was Latinized as 'sporangium', formed the adjective 'sporangiate', and was later compounded with English 'many' to produce 'many-sporangiate'.

Initially related to the presence of a sporangium or spore-bearing vessel ('having a sporangium'), the compound now specifically denotes 'having many sporangia' in modern botanical usage.