Etymologically
Log in

magnanimitas

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 11:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

magnanimitās f (genitive magnanimitātis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin magnanimus (“great-souled, noble”) + -tās.[2][3][1] That adjective is formed from magnus (“great”) and animus (“soul, spirit”),[1][4] and Wiktionary takes it as a calque of Ancient Greek μεγαλόψυχος (megalópsukhos).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first, once, in Cicero,[3] who names it as one of the four sources of what is honourable: quarum una est cognitiōnis, altera commūnitātis, tertia magnanimitātis, quarta moderātiōnis, “of which one belongs to knowledge, the second to fellowship, the third to greatness of soul, the fourth to moderation”.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that it was at first a word of philosophy, used after Cicero by Seneca and Pliny, and absent from the poets.[3] It means highmindedness, loftiness of spirit:[2] Seneca writes that greatness of soul cannot stand out unless it despises everything that the crowd wants most,[3] and Pliny the Younger's Panegyricus says that it was magnanimity always to abstain from an honour that was eagerly sought.[5][3] Florus writes of the magnanimity of generals and of the Roman people,[3] and it is also found in Tertullian, Ammianus and Macrobius.[5][3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is greatness of soul.[6] It is the source of Italian magnanimità.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero names it among the four parts of the honourable.[5][3][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in his letters and in On Mercy.[3][8]
  • c. 120 AD – Florus writes of the magnanimity of the Roman people.[3][8]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a philosopher facing death.[3][8]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it.[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Highmindedness, loftiness of spirit, magnanimity, greatness of soul.[2][5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de