harangue

Pronunciation

• IPA: /həˈɹæŋ/; /həˈɹeɪ̯ŋ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French harangue (“public address”),^[2][3][4][5] from Italian aringa (“speech, oration”),^[2][6][5] from aringare “to speak in public”,^[2][6][5] from aringo “public square, place of assembly”,^{[2][3][4][6][5]} which is of Germanic origin.^[2][6] It is related to Old High German hring “ring, circle”, the idea being a circular gathering;^[4][6][3] Barnhart and Watkins suggest a compound *hari-hring “army ring, assembly”.^[3][4] An a- was added to ease the Romance pronunciation of Germanic hr-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A speech addressed to an assembly; also a vehement or pompous address.^[4][7][3]

Semantic evolution

From a formal address to an assembly the word came to stress length and vehemence: a ranting speech or tirade,^[7][2][1] and also a scolding lecture.^[6][5][1] The verb, from French haranguer, followed in the 17th century.^[3][4][7]

Timeline

• before 1450 – Scottish arang;^[3][7] Etymonline gives the mid-15th century.^[4]
• circa 1533 – Merriam-Webster's first date for the noun;^[6] RHWU gives 1530–40.^[5]
• c. 1600 – in English outside Scotland.^[4]
• 1640 – verb, by Merriam-Webster's date;^[6] Etymonline gives the 1650s, and the OED and Barnhart 1660.^[4][7][3]
• 1682 – verb, to address in a harangue.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long, passionate or pompous speech, especially one delivered to a public gathering.
2. A ranting speech or piece of writing; a tirade.
3. A scolding lecture.

Verb

1. To address with a harangue.
2. To deliver a harangue.

Word family

• haranguer
• unharangued

Related words

• ring
• rank
• range
• arrange
• diatribe
• tirade

References

1. [1] [2] [3] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press