magnas

Forms

magnās m (genitive magnātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin magnus (“great”),^[1][2][3] formed like optimātēs.^[2] Köbler regards it as a loan formation on Ancient Greek μεγιστᾶνες (megistânes, “great men”),^[4] the Greek word that Georges gives as its equivalent.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the plural magnātēs in the Vulgate, in the books of Judith and Sirach, meaning the great men or chiefs of a people.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin the word was used mainly in the plural, of the leading men around a ruler.^[6][2] Medieval Latin also made a singular magnās, a great man or noble,^[7][6] and Niermeyer adds the senses of vassal, baron and tenant in chief.^[8]

In British sources it is used of the magnates of the kingdom, of great churchmen and of city notables, as opposed to the lower orders, and even of the major pieces on the back row of a chessboard.^[6] In medieval Hungary the magnates were at first the dignitaries of the royal court and council, later the great landowners.^[9] English borrowed the plural as magnate in the mid-15th century.^[10]

Timeline

• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses magnātēs for the chief men of a people.^[2][3][4]
• 1st half of 10th century – Flodoard uses the singular for a nobleman of the king.^[7][4]
• 957 – An English charter names duces et magnates together.^[7]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as magnate.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, chiefly plural) A great man, one of the nobles or chiefs of a people.^[2][3][11]
2. (Medieval Latin) A magnate, a baron or tenant in chief.^[8][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A major piece on the back row of a chessboard.^[6]

Related words

• English magnate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson