Etymologically
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grandeur

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɡɹæn.djʊə/, /ˈɡɹæn.djɜː/[1]
  • US: /ˈɡɹæn.d͡ʒɚ/, /ˈɡɹæn.d͡ʒʊɚ/[1]

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]
  • 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