411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Magna Carta
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
English
2020 June 15
Alternative forms
en Magna Charta uncommon
en Magna Charter obsolete
en Mᵃ Cᵃ Mag. Cart. contractions obsolete
Etymology
thumb|A copy of the 1297 version of Magna Carta, now on display in the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., USA.
From Late en enm Magna Carta, borrowed from en la-med Magna Carta, from en la magna great + la carta charter.n 112237 March 2000 yes; n
Pronunciation
en /ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːtə/ RP
en /ˌmæɡnə ˈkɑːɹtə/ [-ɾə] GA
en en-us-magna_carta.ogg US
en ɑː(ɹ)tə 4
en Mag na Car ta
Proper noun
Magna Carta ~ s Magnae Cartae Magnæ Cartæ
en historical A charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215, which is one of the bases of English constitutional tradition; a physical copy of this charter, or a later version.
en Thomas S[tephen] Szasz 11 The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct New York, N.Y. Harper & Row 1974 978-0-06-091151-5 192 In witch-trials the conflict was officially defined as between the accused and God, or between the accused and the Catholic (later Protestant) church, as God's earthly representative. There was no attempt to make this an even match. The distribution of power between accuser and accused mirrored the relations between king and serf—one had all the power and the other none of it. Once again, we encounter the theme of domination and submission. Significantly, only in England—where, beginning in the thirteenth century with the granting of the Magna Charta, there gradually developed an appreciation of the rights and dignities of those less powerful than the king—was the fury of witch hunting mitigated by legal safe-guards and social sensibilities.
en NIST to frame the Magna Carta http://www.nist.gov/el/charter_081710.cfm https://web.archive.org/web/20130916204012/http://www.nist.gov/el/charter_081710.cfm 16 September 2013 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 17 August 2010 The Magna Carta harkens back to 1215 when King John of England was forced by an assembly of barons to write down the traditional rights of the country's free persons. By so doing, he bound himself and his heirs to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and liberties described in the great charter, or Magna Carta. Each subsequent ruler did the same. The 1297 Magna Carta represents the transition from a brokered agreement to the foundation of English law, upon which U.S. law is based.
en Nicholas Vincent Magna Carta: A Very Short Introduction Oxford w:Oxford University Press 2012 107 978-0-19-163349-2 During cataloguing for the 2007 sale, at least two Magna Cartas, previously listed as copies, were reidentified as 'originals', and no fewer than four new originals of the Forest Charter came to light.
en Christopher Daniell Introduction From Norman Conquest to Magna Carta: England 1066–1215 London w:Routledge 2013 xi 978-1-136-35704-6 [...] King John bowed to pressure from the rebellious barons and assented to the demands of the barons at Runnymede. For the first time in English history a king had agreed to limit his own power. As importantly, his assent was agreed in writing in the Magna Carta (which means 'Great Charter'). The physical document meant that the details could be widely distributed and remembered. The importance of the event was apparent immediately, but the long-term consequences across the centuries were unforeseen. Four hundred years later the Magna Carta was used as a crucial political weapon in the fight between Parliament and Charles I during the English Civil War.
en Anthony Arlidge Igor Judge Introduction Magna Carta Uncovered Oxford; Portland, Or. Hart Publishing 2014 1 978-1-84946-556-4 Between 1215 and 1225 four Magna Cartas were issued. The 1215 Charter was annulled within 10 weeks. The reissues in 1216, 1217 and the final text in 1225 were all different from each other and omitted parts of or amended the original.
en law A modified version of the charter of King John as granted by King Henry III of England Henry III in 1236, confirmed as a statute by the Parliament of King Edward I of England King Edward I in 1297, part of which remains in force in England and Wales.
en Edward Cooke Magna Charta, Made in the Ninth Year of K. Henry the Third, and Confirmed by K. Edward the First, in the Twenty-Eighth Year of His Reign. With Some Short, but Necessary Observations From The L. Chief Just. Coke’s Comments upon It.Faithfully Translated for the Benefit of those that do not Understand the Latine, by Edw. Cooke, of the Middle-Temple, Esq. London Printed by the Assignees of Richard and Edward Atkins, Esquires, for Thomas Simmons,at the Prince's Arms, in Ludgate-Street 1680 preface, pages ii–iii https://books.google.com/books?id=Qxc-AAAAcAAJ 31360645 My Lord Coke ſayes, It had not its name of GREAT CHARTER, from the Greatneſs of it in Quantity; for there were ſeveral Voluminous Charters, longer than this: But it was ſo called, in reſpect of the Great Importance, and Weightyneſs of the Matter; as Charta de Foresta, is called, Magna Charta de Foresta, for the ſame Cauſe; and both of them are called, Magnæ Chartæ Libertatum Angliæ; i.e. The Great Charters of the Liberties of England; and upon great Reaſon too, Quia liberos faciunt, becauſe they make us Free. on
en w:Danby Pickering The Statutes at Large, from Magna Charta to the End of the Eleventh Parliament of Great Britain, Anno 1761.Carefully Collated and Revised, with References, a Preface, and a New and Accurate Index to the Whole Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Printed by Joseph Bentham, printer to the University; for Charles Bathurst,at the Cross-Keys, opposite St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleet-Street, London 1762 I (from Magna Charta to the 14th Year of K. Edward III. inclusive) 1 https://books.google.com/books?id=iPQuAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 247180908 MAGNA CHARTA. The GREAT CHARTER, Made in the Ninth Year of King Henry the Third, and Confirmed by King Edward the Firſt in the Five and twentieth Year of his Reign.
en w:Record Commission Statutes of the Realm The Statutes of the Realm. Printed by Command of His Majesty King George the Third in pursuance of an Address of the House of Commons of Great Britain. From Original Records and Manuscripts. 1810 1 xxix Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta, granted in the 9th Year of King Henry III. have, in every Collection of Statutes which contained the Statutes previous to 1 Edw. III. been printed as the first in Order. In all Editions previous to Hawkins’s, they were printed as from Charters of Inspeximus of 28 Edw. I : By Hawkins and subsequent Editors they were printed from the Charter of Inspeximus entered on the Statute Roll of 25 Edw. I : But in no Edition hitherto have they been printed immediately from any Charter of 9 Hen. III ; and it is not known that any Statute Roll of that Date ever existed. In the present Collection, these Charters are inserted according to their place in the above Series, and are printed from Charters under the Great Seal : They are also printed again amongst the Statutes 25 Edw. I. from the Entry on the Statute Roll of that Year, being the earliest Parliamentary Record upon which they have been found.
en Royal Commission on Coast Erosion and Afforestation Third (and Final) Report of the Royal Commission Appointed to Inquire into and to Report on Certain Questions Affecting Coast Erosion, the Reclamation of Tidal Lands, and Afforestation in the United Kingdom Cd. 5708 III, part I (Coastal Erosion) London House of Commons? 1911 291 781394252 [...] there was also a Charter confirming the previous Magnae Cartae in general terms, 21 Henry III. (1236–7). [...]
Usage notes
When referring to the original Magna Carta, many (though not all) usage guides advise omitting the word the before Magna Carta for two reasons: first, as the term is a proper noun (though in reality many proper nouns take "the"); and secondly, because in Latin the term did not take an article, and early anglicizations of the term followed this pattern.Bryan A. Garner Bryan A. Garner Bryan Garner offers a Magna Carta style guide http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/bryan_garner_offers_a_magna_carta_style_guide/ https://web.archive.org/web/20150907002311/http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/bryan_garner_offers_a_magna_carta_style_guide/ 7 September 2015 ABA Journal American Bar Association 1 January 2015.
Synonyms
en the Carta shortening
en Great Charter literal rare
Related terms
en Carta Confirmationis
en Carta de Foresta
Translations
charter granted by King John to the barons at Runnymede in 1215
Afrikaans: af Magna Carta
Arabic: ar مَاجْنَا كَارْتَا f
Aragonese: an Carta Magna f
Asturian: ast Carta Magna f
Basque: eu Magna Carta
Bengali: bn ম্যাগনা কার্টা
Bulgarian: bg Велика харта на свободите f
Burmese: my မဂ္ဂနာကာတာ
Catalan: ca Magna Carta f
Chinese:
Hokkien: nan-hbl 大憲章 Tāi Hiàn-chiong
Mandarin: cmn 大憲章 Dà Xiànzhāng
Czech: cs Magna charta libertatum f
Danish: da Magna Carta c
Dutch: nl Magna Carta f
Esperanto: eo Magna Carta
Estonian: et Magna Carta
Finnish: fi Magna Carta
French: fr Magna Carta f
Galician: gl Carta Magna f
Georgian: ka მაგნა კარტა
German: de Magna Carta f
Greek: el Μάγκνα Κάρτα f
Hebrew: he מגנה כרטה f
Hindi: hi मैग्ना कार्टा
Hungarian: hu Magna Charta Libertatum
Icelandic: is Magna Carta
Indonesian: id Magna Carta
Italian: it Magna Carta f
Japanese: ja マグナ・カルタ maguna karuta
Javanese: jv Magna Carta
Korean: ko 마그나 카르타, ko 대헌장
Latin: la Magna charta libertatum f
Latvian: lv Lielā brīvības harta
Lithuanian: lt Magna Carta Libertatum
Macedonian: mk Магна карта f
Malay: ms Magna Carta
Malayalam: ml മാഗ്നാകാർട്ട
Marathi: mr मॅग्ना कार्टा
Newar: new म्याग्ना कार्टा
Norwegian: no Magna Carta
Persian: fa مگنا کارتا magnâ kârtâ, fa فرمان کبیر
Polish: pl Magna Charta Libertatum f
Portuguese: pt Magna Carta f
Romanian: ro Magna Charta Libertatum f
Russian: ru Вели́кая ха́ртия во́льностей f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: sh Магна карта f
Latin: sh Magna Karta f
Slovak: sk Magna charta f
Slovene: sl Velika listina svoboščin f
Spanish: es Carta Magna f
Swedish: sv Magna Charta c
Tagalog: tl Batayang Kasulatan
Tamil: ta மாக்னா கார்ட்டா
Telugu: te మాగ్నా కార్టా
Thai: th มหากฎบัตร máhăa gòdbàt
Turkish: tr Magna Carta Libertatum
Ukrainian: uk Велика хартія вольностей f
Urdu: ur میگنا کارٹا
Welsh: cy Magna Carta
Noun
1
en figuratively A landmark document that sets out rights or important principles.
en John Mammen Yang di-Pertuan Negara’s Speech (Debate on the Address) (Fourth Day) Legislative Assembly Debates, Official Report w:Legislative Assembly of Singapore 21 July 1959 11 329 https://web.archive.org/web/20160307110433/http://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/topic.jsp?currentTopicID=00049477-ZZ 504451778 [R]egarding this new Ordinance relating to the trade union movement, we on the workers' side will consider it as the Magna Carta of the trade union movement and for the workers in Singapore.
en William A. Hyman Magna Carta of Space Amherst, Wis. Amherst Press 1966 28 876381733 The fundamental philosophy of The Magna Carta Of Space is predicated on the principle that a reasonable man has the obligation to guard against foreseeable conflicts which a reasonable man should anticipate.
en w:Valerie M. Hudson; w:Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill; Mary Caprioli; Chad F. Emmett Sex and World Peace New York, N.Y. w:Columbia University Press 2013 146 978-0-231-13182-7 One of the most ambitious and far-reaching recent legislative initiatives is the Philippines' Magna Carta of Women, signed into law in 2009. This Magna Carta is the instrument by which the Filipino government will bring its affairs fully into compliance with CEDAW.
weekend John Thornhill 2024-05-11 More than human? Life & Arts 8 Signed when tensions between the US and the USSR were near their height, the treaty was “the Magna Carta of space,” preventing militarisation and ensuring no nation could claim sovereignty over any celestial body.
Translations
landmark document that sets out rights or important principles
References
Further reading
Portuguese
Proper noun
f Magna Carta
en Magna Carta