'personify' originates from Late Latin, specifically the word 'personificare', where 'persona' meant 'mask, person' and '-ficare' meant 'to make'.

'personificare' changed into Old French/Medieval Latin forms such as 'personifier' and later entered English (Middle English forms like 'personifien'), eventually becoming the modern English 'personify'.

Initially it meant 'to make into a person or mask', and over time it evolved into the current sense 'to represent or attribute human characteristics; to embody'.