splendor

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English splendure, also splendoure,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Middle French esplendour^[2][5] and directly borrowed from Latin splendor (“brilliance, brightness”).^[2][4][6] The OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English give the French source as Anglo-Norman splendur, also esplendur,^[6][7] Barnhart thinks an Anglo-French route possible but a Middle French one more likely,^[2] and Etymonline names Old French splendor and splendour, recorded from the 12th century.^[4] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from about 1145, meaning splendour, radiance and brilliance.^[8] The Latin noun is formed from splendeō (“to be bright, shine”),^[4][2][3][9] the source of splendid and resplendent.^[2][9] Dictionary.com notes that the modern form was refashioned on the Latin word, replacing the late Middle English splendure.^[10] The same Latin word gave French splendeur, Italian splendore and Spanish esplendor.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Great brightness, brilliant light or lustre: about 1450, in the Coventry Mysteries.^[6] Barnhart dates the word probably before 1475,^[2] and Etymonline to the early 15th century, with the senses "radiance, great brilliance" and "source of magnificence or excellence".^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a word of light and moved to magnificence and fame, part of a wider pattern of describing beauty, goodness and pride in terms of light.^[11] The sense of brilliant distinction or glory is recorded from 1604,^[6] and that of magnificence, a great show of riches, pomp, from 1616,^[6] or from the 1610s in Etymonline.^[4] Johnson (1755) still gave "lustre; power of shining" first, and "magnificence; pomp" second.^[12] Brilliant or ornate appearance or colouring followed in 1774,^[6] and a heraldic use, for the sun shown with rays and a human face, from 1766.^[6][13] A verb, to move with splendour or to give splendour to, appears in the mid-19th century.^[6][5] The alternative noun splendency of the 1590s is obsolete.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1450 – great brightness, brilliant light.^[6] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century.^[4]
• 1604 – brilliant distinction, eminence, glory.^[6]
• 1616 – magnificence, a great show of riches; pomp.^[6][4]
• 1766 – in heraldry, of the sun shown with rays.^[6]
• 1774 – brilliant or ornate appearance or colouring.^[6]
• 1853 – verb, to move with splendour.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Great brightness or luster; brilliance: the splendor of the sunrise over the bay.^[14][5][6]
2. Magnificent appearance or display; grandeur, pomp.^[14][5][13]
3. Something grand or splendid: the splendors of ancient Rome.^[14][15]
4. Great fame; glory.^[14][6]
5. (heraldry) sun in splendor: the sun shown with rays and a human face.^[13][6]

Verb

1. To move or proceed gloriously or radiantly.^[5][6]
2. To give splendor to; adorn.^[5][6]

Word family

• splendorous
• outsplendor

Related words

• splendid
• resplendent

Usage notes

Splendor is the American spelling and splendour the British one;^{[5][10][1][4]} Etymonline calls splendour chiefly British,^[4] and the Shorter Oxford gives splendor as the American form.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
15. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press