Etymologically
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arrogance

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɛɹ.ə.ɡəns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English arrogaunce, also errogaunce,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman arrogaunce or Old French arrogance,[4][5][6][3] and partly directly borrowed from Latin arrogantia (“haughtiness, insolence, pride, presumption”).[4][7][8] The French word is recorded from the 12th century,[4][5][9] and the Latin noun is formed from arrogāns (“assuming, overbearing, insolent”), the present participle of arrogō (“to claim for oneself, assume”),[5][6][7][4] from ad- (“to”) and rogō (“to ask, propose”).[5][6] Etymonline takes rogō as a figurative use of a verb meaning "to stretch out the hand", from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An inflated opinion of one's own worth or importance, shown in a presumptuous or overbearing manner: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.[4][6] Etymonline dates it to about 1300[5] and Dictionary.com to 1275–1325.[10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it was also treated as a branch of the deadly sin of pride,[2] and in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale we read that "swich arrogance is nat worth an hen".[2] From 1575 it could also mean a single arrogant act or utterance.[4] The longer arrogancy has been used beside it.[8][10] The adjective arrogant was borrowed in the late 14th century,[6][7] and arrogate, from the same Latin verb, in the 16th.[7]

Timeline

  • 1340 – overbearing pride, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.[4][6]
  • c. 1395 – in Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale.[2]
  • 1575 – an arrogant act or utterance.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities, shown in an overbearing, haughty or contemptuous manner: His arrogance cost him the election.[3][4][8]
  2. An arrogant act, claim or remark.[4]
  • arrogant
  • arrogate
  • rogation
  • interrogate
  • prerogative

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House