insolence

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English insolence, also insolens,^[2] borrowed from Latin insolentia (“unusualness, excess, arrogance”),^[3][4][5][6] and in part borrowed from Old French insolence.^[2] The Latin noun is from īnsolēns (“unaccustomed, immoderate, arrogant”),^[3][5][6] from in- (“not”) and the present participle of soleō (“to be accustomed”),^[7][8][5] which is of uncertain origin.^[5][6] Etymonline reports old guesses connecting the verb with sodālis (“companion”), which de Vaan rejects on phonetic grounds, or with solum (“ground”), or with Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“human settlement”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pride, overbearing conduct: about 1386, in Chaucer's Parson's Tale.^[3] Etymonline likewise has the late 14th century, and Dictionary.com 1350–1400.^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

The English word took over the Latin sense of arrogance.^[3][6] The Middle English Dictionary also records immoderate conduct, wickedness and excess, as in Lydgate's Fall of Princes.^[2] The neighbouring Latin sense of unfamiliarity appeared briefly, for being unused to something in the 15th century and for strangeness in Donne.^[3][10] Hoad places the turn of insolent toward contempt for dignity and authority in the 17th century,^[7] and the OED's first record of offensive, impertinent speech or action in insolence is from 1668, in Davenant; the old sense of haughtiness toward inferiors fades into this one.^[3] The noun was turned into a verb, recorded in 1649, in Eikon Basilike, which Johnson (1755) called "a very bad word".^[3][11] In 1595 Spenser used the noun for exultation.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – pride, haughty conduct.^[3]
• before 1475 – the condition of being unused to something.^[3]
• before 1492 – an insolent act.^[3]
• 1595 – exultation (obsolete).^[3]
• before 1631 – strangeness (obsolete).^[3]
• 1649 – verb, to treat with insolence (obsolete).^[3]
• 1668 – offensive, impertinent behaviour.^[3]
• 1740 – an insolent person, in Richardson's Pamela.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Rude, disrespectful behaviour or speech; impudence: The clerk's insolence cost him his post.^[4][3][10]
2. An insolent act or remark; now rare.^[4][3][10]
3. Haughty, overbearing conduct or character; arrogance.^[4][3][10]
4. (obsolete, 15th–17th century) The condition of being unused to something; unusualness.^[3][10]

Verb

1. (obsolete) To treat with contempt.^[3][11]

Related words

• insolent

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.