When I was ten, I learned the adjective “magnanimous” from Star Trek. I learn now from Wikipedia that the episode called “Whom Gods Destroy” was unseen in the UK until 1994, and one reason was the scene that preceded the following dialogue:
- Garth of Izar
- She’s yours if you wish, Captain.
- Kirk
- Thank you, that’s – very magnanimous of you.
- Garth
- You will find that I am magnanimous – to my friends, and merciless to my enemies.
The woman referred to is called Marta. Garth styles himself Lord Garth, Master of the Universe, but he is mad. For Lee Erwin then, the writer of the episode, magnanimity would seem to be generosity exhibited by the powerful, or the deserving of power, at least in their own minds. This understanding is supported by definitions in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (sixth edition, 1976):
- magnanimous
- Noble, generous, not petty, in feelings or conduct.
- generous
- Magnanimous, noble-minded; not mean or prejudiced; free in giving, munificent.
Generosity is one word for the main subject of our previous reading. Etymologically, the word refers to birth, so that generosity is literally being of good family.
Nobility, by contrast, is being “in the know”: the letters “no” show the relation, while the K of “know” corresponds to a letter missing in “noble,” but retained in “ignoble.”
In its Latin parts, “magnanimity” is being of “great soul.” The word seems to be a calque of Aristotle’s μεγαλοψυχία, which is our main subject now.
From “Whom Gods Destroy”
Garth, Marta, Kirk, Spock
Screenshot from IMDb
I learned Star Trek
on a black-and-white TV
The effect
of Marta’s green skin
was lost on me
Polytropy 