magnificon.adj.

Etymology: < Italian magnifico high-minded, liberal, excellent (13th cent.; used as an honorific title, originally of a nobleman, from the mid 15th cent.) < classical Latin magnificus (see magnific adj.), used in post-classical Latin as an honorific title of high magistrates (rarely of ecclesiastics). Compare the similar use of magnificence n. and its etymon classical Latin magnificentia , and also of post-classical Latin magnanimitas magnanimity n. and magnitudo magnitude n. (both 16th cent.).The honorific use of magnifico in Italian is now confined to the title of the rector of a university, il Magnifico Rettore (the executive head of the University of Malta is similarly still termed Rector Magnificus, and the title was formerly in use also at the University of Berlin).