[Artemisia] Largesse

[Dr. Helm-Clark]

I think this illustrates (at least for me) why I don't like
stuffing "peerage criteria" into set-piece definitions. The
concept of the "Five Pillars of Peerage" is based on an historical
Gothic conception of the qualities of the nobility. If one is to
follow such a model, it is good to understand what these words
meant to a late gothic individual.  If I had a little more time, I
would be diving for my copy of Huinzinga, but as I have 20 more 
minutes before I must run out the door to get to work, a dictionary
must suffice for now:

Entry: lar·gesse
Variant(s): or lar·gess   /lär-'zhes, lär-'jes also 'lär-"jes/
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English largesse, from Old French, from "large"
Date: 13th century
1 : liberal giving (as of money) to or as if to an inferior; 
    also : something so given

That's right: largesse - in period, the tool of the left-handed
put-down of one's social inferiors through the giving of money or
goods.  The difference between largesse and generosity is the 
difference between Carnegie and Smithson.

Words have power. Words are also quite specific, regardless of our
propensity to change their meaning through time. I would urge folks,
therefore, that before we go charging into the future redefining
the meaning of things like largesse (and generosity), that we endeavor
to know what they denote in the here and now as well as in the past.

Just my 2 cents of being bratty for the day
ttfn
Therasia