grandeur

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French grandeur,^[2][3][4] which the OED takes as French in general,^[5][6] formed from grand (“great”) and the suffix -eur;^[5][6][7] the Old French form was grandor (12th century).^[8][9] Grand is from Latin grandis.^[4] Etymonline quotes the OED (1989): having been adopted late, the word kept the French form of the suffix.^[8] Some early spellings show the ending partly naturalized, as with -our and -or.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Height, tall stature: about 1500, in Melusine.^[5][2][8] The Oxford Dictionary of English dates the word to the late 16th century, also in the sense of tall stature.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In French the word already meant height, size, power and magnificence in the 12th century, and also high rank and pride by the 14th.^[5] In English the physical senses, height (to 1632) and size or quantity (1599–1658), died out,^[5][6] while the figurative ones grew: greatness of power or rank (1600),^[5] conscious dignity or haughtiness (1615),^[5] and the majesty or sublimity of something seen (1632) or of a style of writing (1657).^[5] Barnhart dates the sense "majesty, stateliness" to 1669,^[2] Etymonline to the 1660s.^[8] The sense "splendour of appearance or way of life, suggesting wealth" is from 1652, and "transcendent greatness, nobility" from 1656.^[5] The sense of rank is now rare except in delusions of grandeur.^[5][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as splendour of appearance and as elevation of sentiment or language.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – height, tall stature (obsolete by 1632).^[5][2]
• 1599 – greatness in amount; size (obsolete by 1658).^[5]
• 1600 – greatness of power or rank.^[5]
• 1615 – conscious dignity; also haughtiness.^[5]
• 1632 – majesty or sublimity of appearance.^[5] Barnhart dates the sense to 1669.^[2]
• 1652 – splendour of appearance or lifestyle.^[5]
• 1656 – transcendent greatness, nobility.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Splendour and magnificence, as of a building, a landscape or a way of life: the faded grandeur of the old ballroom.^[12][5][3]
2. Personal greatness, based on dignity, character or achievement; nobility.^[12][5]
3. Greatness of power or rank; now rare except in delusions of grandeur.^[5][3]
4. Pretentious or bombastic behaviour.^[12]
5. (obsolete, c. 1500–1632) Height; tall stature.^[5][6]

Related words

• folie de grandeur
• grand
• grandiose
• aggrandize

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins