splendide

Forms

splendidē (adverb); comparative splendidius, superlative splendidissimē^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin splendidus (“shining, splendid”) + -ē.^[1][2] splendidus comes from splendeō (“to shine”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *splnd/þē- and Proto-Indo-European *splnd(h)-eh1- (“to be manifest”).^[3] Cognate with Old Irish sluindid (“to express, declare”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.^[2] The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of someone travelling abroad in splendid style: dum splendide peregrinatur.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Of outward show it means splendidly or brilliantly.^[1] Of style it is with distinction: Cicero wants a speaker to talk simply and splendidly, like the men who established the laws, without meagre wrangling over words.^[1] In a moral sense it is finely or nobly, as in Cicero's On Old Age, of those who have used the rewards of authority well.^[1] Of rank it means highly: Seneca speaks of many men of the most splendid birth whom fortune brought low.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of fine speech and noble conduct.^[1][2]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of high birth.^[1][2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Splendidly, brilliantly, magnificently.^[1][2]
2. Of style: with distinction.^[1]
3. Finely, nobly.^[1]
4. Of rank: highly.^[1]

Related words

• splendidus
• splendeō
• splendor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill