Defining Generosity

What Is “Generosity”? The modern English word “generosity” derives from the Latin word generōsus, which means “of noble birth.” That Latin word was passed down to English through the Old French word genereus, later généreux (“noble, magnanimous”). The Latin stem gener- is the declensional stem of genus, meaning “kin,” “clan,” “race,” or “stock,” with the root Indo-European meaning of gen being “to beget.” The same root gives us the words “genesis,” “gentry,” “gender,” “genital,” “gentile,” “genealogy,” and “genius,” among others. Most recorded English uses of the word “generous” up to and…