“Magnanimous” auf Deutsch, und eine kleine Email

Question

I would like to ask my work colleagues if they are interested in donating some portion of their time by participating in this fantastic site.

To that end, I wanted to write something tongue-in-cheek like:

"If you are feeling especially magnanimous today, then why not visit and graciously donate some small percentage of your vast knowledge?"

in an e-mail. It was then that I realised not only is my German not good enough to get across this kind of subtle humour without danger of it being offensive, but I can't even translate magnanimous.

So I ask: would grossherzig be a good word in this context for magnanimous?

Answer 1

"Großherzig" is an appropriate translation but may not be widely used. Let me suggest more commonly used alternatives:

aufgeschlossen
uneigennützig
selbstlos

If however you intend to use a translation that is rarely used to make your friends curious then "großherzig" or any of the following may be better:

weitherzig, hochherzig, honorig, edelmütig

Answer 2

Yes,

großherzig

is an appropriate translation.

Another possible translations is großzügig, but the it's more for a material context (donating money for example).

The word edelmütig and großmütig could also be used, but they're rather old fashioned.

Answer 3

I also favor "großherzig". Magnanimous is derived from Latin "magna" (big, groß) and "anima" (heart, Herz).