arrogate

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin arrogāt- (“claimed for oneself”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} the past participial stem of arrogō (“to lay claim to, claim as a right; to attribute; to adopt an adult as a son”), also adrogō.^[2] The verb is formed from ad- (“to”) and rogō (“to ask”).^[2][8][9][5] Etymonline takes the verb for asking as apparently a figurative use of a verb meaning to stretch out the hand, from Proto-Indo-European *rog-, a variant of *reg- (“to move in a straight line”),^[5][8] and Klein puts it in a vowel-gradation relationship with regō (“to guide, rule”).^[6] The OED compares Middle French arroger of the late 15th century, Spanish arrogar and Italian arrogare, and notes that arrogance and arrogant are older in English.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To claim something for oneself without justification, with a reflexive pronoun: 1537, in a translation of a sermon by Latimer to the clergy.^[2] Etymonline has the 1530s and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also 1537.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

English took mainly the Latin verb's sense of laying claim, and sharpened it: where the Latin could mean simply to claim as a right, the English verb has from the start implied that the claim is false or presumptuous.^[2] A plain object, without "to oneself", follows in 1566, and claims to a quality rather than a right or title from 1563.^[2] From 1584 one could also arrogate something on behalf of another, that is, attribute it unduly,^[2] a use the Shorter Oxford dates to the early 17th century.^[4] The Latin legal sense, to adopt a person who is not under another's legal power, appears in 1565 and is now rare; compare the later verb adrogate.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined the verb as "to claim vainly; to exhibit unjust claims only prompted by pride".^[10] An intransitive use, to behave presumptuously, is found only in Milton (1649).^[2]

Timeline

• 1537 – to claim for oneself without justification (with a reflexive pronoun).^[2][9]
• 1563 – to claim falsely to possess a quality.^[2]
• 1565 – in Roman law, to adopt a person.^[2]
• 1566 – to claim or appropriate, with a simple object.^[2]
• 1584 – to attribute unduly to another.^[2]
• 1649 – intransitive, to behave presumptuously (obsolete, rare).^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To claim or seize a right, power or title without justification; to appropriate or usurp: The council arrogated to itself the power to set fines.^[11][9][2]
2. To claim falsely to possess a quality; to assume it presumptuously: He arrogated a wisdom he had never shown.^[9][2]
3. To attribute or ascribe something to another without good reason.^[11][9][2]
4. (Roman law, rare) To adopt a person who is not under another's legal power; to adrogate.^[2][4]

Word family

• arrogation
• arrogative
• arrogator
• arrogatingly
• unarrogating

Related words

• arrogance
• arrogant
• abrogate
• derogate
• interrogate
• prerogative
• prorogue
• surrogate
• rogation
• adrogate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins