magna

views updated

magna Latin, = ‘great’.
Magna Carta a charter of liberty and political rights obtained from King John of England by his rebellious barons at Runnymede in 1215. Although often violated by medieval kings, it came to be seen as the seminal document of English constitutional practice, as shown by a comment of the English jurist Edward Coke (1552–1634) on the Lords' Amendment to the Petition of Right, 17 May 1628.
Magna Graecia the ancient Greek cities of southern Italy, founded from c.750 bc onwards by colonists from Euboea, Sparta, and elsewhere in Greece. The name is Latin, and means literally ‘Great Greece’.
magna mater Latin meaning ‘great mother’; a mother-goddess; a fertility goddess, especially Cybele.