munificence

English

WOTD – 16 September 2013

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mjuːˈnɪfɪsəns/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle French munificence, from Latin munificentia, from munus (“gift”) + facio (“I make”).

Noun

munificence (usually uncountable, plural munificences)

1. The quality of being munificent; generosity.
   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 3:

     Now the happy king laid the forehead of thankſgiving upon the duſt of gratitude; he opened the doors of his wealth to the four winds, and enriched the world, at once, with his munificence.

   • 1845, Lydia Sigourney, Scenes in my Native Land, The Great Oak of Geneseo, pages 86–87:

     And surely, no form of munificence should entitle to a more grateful and lasting remembrance, than that which promotes the right education of youth;...

Related terms

• municipal
• municipality
• munificent
• remunerate
• remuneration

 

Translations

the quality of being munificent; generosity

• Arabic: سَخَاء m (saḵāʔ), كَرَم (ar) m (karam)
• Armenian: առատաձեռնություն (hy) (aṙatajeṙnutʻyun), շռայլություն (hy) (šṙaylutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: щедрост (bg) f (štedrost)
• Catalan: munificència f
• Czech: štědrost (cs) f
• Dutch: gulheid (nl) f, vrijgevigheid (nl) f, goedgeefsheid (nl) f, generositeit (nl) f, munificentie f
• Finnish: anteliaisuus (fi), avokätisyys (fi)
• French: générosité (fr) f, munificence (fr) f
• German: Freigebigkeit (de) f, Großzügigkeit (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: μεγαλοπρέπεια f (megaloprépeia)

• Irish: mórmhaitheas f, flaithiúlacht f
• Macedonian: даре́жливост f (daréžlivost), ште́дрост f (štédrost), велико́душност f (velikódušnost)
• Portuguese: munificência (pt) f
• Russian: ще́дрость (ru) f (ščédrostʹ)
• Sanskrit: राधस् (sa) n (rādhas)
• Serbo-Croatian: štedrost f, izdašnost (sh) f
• Slovak: štedrosť f
• Spanish: munificencia (es) f
• Swedish: frikostighet (sv) c, generositet (sv) c, givmildhet (sv) c

Etymology 2

Compare Latin munire (“to fortify”).

Noun

munificence

1. (obsolete) Means of defence; fortification.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Untill that Locrine for his Realmes defence,
     Did head against them make and strong munificence

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin munificentia (“generosity”), from munus (“gift”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /my.ni.fi.sɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

munificence f (plural munificences)

1. generosity, munificence, liberality

   Synonym: largesse

   • 1844, Honoré de Balzac, Modeste Mignon:

     Ce naïf soldat, [...] se crut l’homme le plus heureux du monde, en se voyant propriétaire d’une maison que la munificence de son chef garnit d’un joli mobilier [...]

     The naive soldier, […] thought himself the luckiest man in the world when he found himself the owner of a house which, thanks to his superior's munificence, was fitted out with some very nice furniture […]

Derived terms

• munificent

Further reading

• “munificence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.