magnus

From Proto-Italic *magnos, from Proto-Indo-European *m̥ǵh₂nós, from *méǵh₂s (“great”).

Cognates include Ancient Greek μέγᾰς (mégas, “big, large”), Sanskrit मह (mahá, “great, mighty, strong, abundant”), Middle Persian ms (meh, “great”) (< *mas) (Persian مه (meh)), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬰- (maz-, “large”), Tocharian B māka (“large”), Hittite [script needed] (mēkkis, “much, many, numerous”), Old Armenian մեծ (mec), Old Irish maige (“great, large”), Albanian madh (“large”)^[1] and Old English micel (English much).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɡ.nus/, [ˈmäŋnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɲ.ɲus/, [ˈmäɲːus]

magnus (feminine magna, neuter magnum, comparative maior, superlative maximus or maxumus); first/second-declension adjective

1. (literally):
   1. great, large, big; (of things) vast, extensive, spacious. (of physical size or quantity)

      Magna Britannia ― Great Britain

      mare magnum ― great sea

   2. Especially:
      1. great, much, abundant, considerable. (of measure, weight, quantity)
         • 100 BCE – 44 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentariī dē Bellō Gallicō 6.14:

           Magnum ibi numerum versuum ēdiscere dīcuntur.

           There they are said to learn by heart a large number of verses.

      2. (rare) (of time) Synonym of longus, multus.
      3. Loud, powerful, strong, mighty. (of voice)
2. (figurative):
   1. (in general) great, grand, mighty, noble, lofty, important, of great weight or importance, momentous.

      Carolus Magnus ― Charlemagne / Charles the Great

      • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.313:

        magna petis

        You are inquiring [about] great [matters]

      • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 1.1:

        Enimvērō spectātum satis putābam et magnum exemplum continentiae.

        In fact, I supposed him sufficiently tested and a great example of self-control.

      • 397 CE – 400 CE, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, Cōnfessiōnēs 1.1:

        Magnus es, domine, et laudābilis valdē.

        Great are you, O Lord, and very much praiseworthy.

   2. (in particular):
      1. advanced in years, of great age, aged. (of age, with nātu)
      2. (in specifications of value, in the neutral absolute) high, dear, of great value, at a high price.

• Different dictionaries and grammars give different vowel lengths. Some have magnus, major/maior, maximus (e.g. Lewis & Short, Gaffiot, OLD), others have māgnus, major/maior, maximus (e.g. Allen & Greenough). māj- in those that don't distinguish syllable weight from vowel length is due to the first syllable being regularly made long by position, since an intervocalic /j/ is normally double).

• In Late Latin, magnus increasingly took on abstract senses, while the concrete sense of 'large' was assigned to grandis.^[2]

First/second-declension adjective, with locative.

In Old Latin, the genitive magnai for magnae is attested (in Plautus' Miles gloriosus).

The adjective has irregular comparative and superlative degrees.

• grandis

• parvus

See also tam magnus and permagnus.

• “magnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “magnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• magnus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• magnus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 939/3.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a storm accompanied by heavy claps of thunder: tempestas cum magno fragore (caeli) tonitribusque (Liv. 1. 16)
    
  • with many tears: magno cum fletu
    
  • cogent, decisive reasons: magnae (graves) necessariae causae
    
  • important results are often produced by trivial causes: ex parvis saepe magnarum rerum momenta pendent
    
  • to be of great (no) importance: magni (nullius) momenti esse
    
  • to have considerable influence on a question: magnam vim habere ad aliquid
    
  • his crowning happiness is produced by a thing; the culminating point of his felicity is..: ad felicitatem (magnus) cumulus accedit ex aliqua re
    
  • his crowning happiness is produced by a thing; the culminating point of his felicity is..: aliquid felicitatem magno cumulo auget
    
  • to entreat earnestly; to make urgent requests: magno opere, vehementer, etiam atque etiam rogare aliquem
    
  • to be influenced by, to yield to urgent (abject) entreaty: magnis (infimis) precibus moveri
    
  • to possess great authority; to be an influential person: magna auctoritate esse
    
  • to possess great authority; to be an influential person: magna auctoritas est in aliquo
    
  • to have great influence with a person; to have considerable weight: magna auctoritas alicuius est apud aliquem
    
  • to leave a great reputation behind one: magnam sui famam relinquere
    
  • it is a great undertaking to..: magnum negotium est c. Inf.
    
  • to be magnanimous, broad-minded: magno animo esse
    
  • a man of ability: vir magno ingenio, ingeniosus
    
  • a man of ability: vir magno ingenio praeditus
    
  • to be in gross error, seriously misled: magno errore teneri
    
  • to be in gross error, seriously misled: in magno errore versari
    
  • a thing which is rather (very) dubious: quod aliquam (magnam) dubitationem habet (Leg. Agr. 1. 4. 11)
    
  • to be busy with ambitious projects: magna moliri
    
  • to have a high object in view; to be ambitious: magna sibi proponere or magna spectare
    
  • to have had great experience in a thing: magnum usum in aliqua re habere
    
  • to pass as a man of great learning: magnam doctrinae speciem prae se ferre
    
  • we expect a great deal from a man of your calibre: magna est exspectatio ingenii tui
    
  • a weighty example, precedent: exemplum magnum, grande
    
  • a strong, striking proof: argumentum firmum, magnum
    
  • a strong, loud voice: vox magna, clara (Sulla 10. 30)
    
  • to shout at the top of one's voice: magna voce clamare
    
  • it is a difficult point, disputed question: magna quaestio est (followed by an indirect question)
    
  • to my sorrow: cum magno meo dolore
    
  • to undergo severe trouble, trials: magnum luctum haurire (without ex-)
    
  • to be haughty: magnos spiritus sibi sumere (B. G. 1. 33)
    
  • I have great hopes that..: magna me spes tenet (with Acc. c. Inf.) (Tusc. 1. 41. 97)
    
  • some one is the object of much admiration: magna est admiratio alicuius
    
  • we are united by many mutual obligations: multa et magna inter nos officia intercedunt (Fam. 13. 65)
    
  • to buy dearly: magno or male emere
    
  • a thing costs much, little: aliquid magno, parvo stat, constat
    
  • much money: pecunia magna, grandis (multum pecuniae)
    
  • money is plentiful at 6 per cent: semissibus magna copia est
    
  • to incur debts on a large scale: grande, magnum (opp. exiguum) aes alienum conflare
    
  • a large force, many troops: magnae copiae (not multae)
    
  • veterans; experienced troops: qui magnum in castris usum habent
    
  • to possess great experience in military matters: magnum usum in re militari habere (Sest. 5. 12)
    
  • by forced marches: magnis itineribus (Sall. Iug. 37)
    
  • there was great slaughter of fugitives: magna caedes hostium fugientium facta est
    
  • with great loss: magno cum detrimento
    
  • much damage was done by this collision: ex eo navium concursu magnum incommodum est acceptum
    
  • (ambiguous) to be very rich; to be in a position of affluence: magnas opes habere
    
  • (ambiguous) to have a large income from a thing (e.g. from mines): magnas pecunias ex aliqua re (e.g. ex metallis) facere
    
  • (ambiguous) to perform heroic exploits: magnas res gerere
    
• “magnus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• J. B. Greenough, G. L. Kittredge, A. A. Howard, Benj. L. D'Ooge, editors (1903), Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, Founded on Comparative Grammar, pages 3 and 56