splendid

\ \ [17] Splendid comes via French splendide from Latin splendidus, a derivative of the verb splendēre ‘shine’. This went back ultimately to the Indo-European base *splēnd- or *plēnd- ‘bright’, which also produced Old Lithuanian splendeti ‘shine’ and Welsh llathru ‘polish’. Amongst the derivatives adopted by English are resplendent [15], splendiferous [15] (from splendiferus, a medieval alteration of late Latin splendōrifer, literally ‘bearing brightness’, hence ‘full of splendour’ – its modern use, as a jocular alternative to splendid, is a 19th-century American innovation), and splendour [15].

\ \ Cf.⇒ RESPLENDENT