The term splendid first appeared in the 1620s as a shortened version of the existing adjective splendidous, derived from the Latin splendidus, which had various meanings such as “bright”, “glittering”, “distinguished”, “fine”, and “noble”, among others. Splendidus can be traced back to the Latin verb splendere (“to be bright”), which is also the origin of words like splendor, via Anglo-French esplendour, and resplendent, with the addition of the prefix re- (in this context, an intensive prefix rather than meaning “again”). Ultimately, splendere is believed to have roots in the Proto-Indo-European term splnd, which pertains to things manifesting in a general sense. Literary usage of splendid has been declining since its peak in the 1830s according to Google Ngrams, which is unfortunate as it remains a splendid word.
