munificence

English

WOTD – 16 September 2013

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

munificence (usually uncountable, plural munificences)

The quality of being munificent; generosity.
- 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;...

the quality of being munificent; generosity

Arabic: سَخَاء‎‎ m (saḵāʾ), كَرَم‎‎ m (karam)
Armenian: առատաձեռնություն (hy) (aṙatajeṙnutʿyun), շռայլություն (hy) (šṙaylutʿyun)
Bulgarian: щедрост (bg) f (štedrost)
Catalan: munificència f
Czech: štědrost 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
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

Compare Latin munire (“to fortify”).

munificence

(obsolete) Means of defence; fortification.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938:
  Untill that Locrine for his Realmes defence,
  Did head against them make and strong munificence

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

IPA^(key): /my.ni.fi.sɑ̃s/

munificence f (plural munificences)

generosity, frankness, munificence

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 [...]
(please add an English translation of this quote)