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pomp

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Etymology and origin of the English word pomp

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpɒmp/[1]
  • US: /ˈpɑːmp/[1]

pomp1 splendid display

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1330 Speculum Guy
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman pompe via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek πέμπω
Etymology tree of pomp1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pompa
English pomp

Etymology

The word for splendid display is inherited from Middle English pompe,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman pompe and Old French pompe,[4][5][2] and directly borrowed from Latin pompa (“procession, ostentation, display”),[4][5][2][6] from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending; solemn procession, parade”),[4][5][7][8] from πέμπω (pémpō, “to send”),[4][7][8][9] which is of unknown origin.[4][5][2] The OED records the French word from about 1165, in Old French, and compares Italian pompa and Spanish pompa.[4] It notes that the surname “Rogero Pumpe” (about 1200) may imply earlier use, in Anglo-Norman or English.[4] The Anglo-Norman noun, from the late 12th century, already had the senses of splendid display, vainglory and arrogance.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Splendid display or show, often with a note of ostentation: about 1330, in Speculum Guy;[4] Barnhart and Etymonline say about 1300, and Dictionary.com 1275–1325.[2][5][11]

Semantic evolution

Ayto explains the Greek development: a "sending" became a solemn procession, as something sent out on its way, and then the display that went with it, and these senses passed into Latin.[12] In Church Latin the word took on a disapproving sense, worldly display or vain show,[5] and Tertullian wrote of the pompa diaboli in connection with baptism,[4] which lies behind "the devil and all his pomps" and "the pomps and vanities of this wicked world" in the baptismal formula.[4][13][14] Chaucer used pompe eight times and Gower six.[3] The sense of a triumphal procession or pageant appears in English only in 1482,[4] and it has gradually died out.[12][4] Johnson (1755) gave "splendour; pride" first and then a procession of splendour.[15] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins observes that the word has always hovered between impressive display and vainglory.[6] It adds that Elgar took the title Pomp and Circumstance for his marches, published from 1901, from Shakespeare's Othello.[6] In Lancashire dialect one's pomp was good health or the prime of life.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 1330 – splendid display or ceremony, often ostentatious.[4]
  • before 1400 – pomps, in allusion to the baptismal formula, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.[4]
  • c. 1450 – verb, to exhibit pomp, to behave pompously.[4][13]
  • 1482 – a triumphal or ceremonial procession, a pageant.[4]
  • 1595 – any procession or sequence of persons or things.[4]
  • 1732 – figuratively, splendid display in nature.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Stately or magnificent display; ceremonial splendour: The queen was crowned with great pomp.[17][18][4]
  2. Vain or empty display, especially of one's own importance; ostentation.[17][18][13]
  3. pomps: worldly shows and vanities, as in the pomps and vanities of this wicked world.[4][13][18]
  4. A flashy or showy gesture or action.[18]
  5. (archaic) A ceremonial procession or pageant.[18][17][4]

Verb

  1. (chiefly poetic) To display splendour, or to behave or move pompously.[13][4][18]

Word family

  • pompless

pomp2 to pamper

Confidence
Probable
First attested
c. 1400 Book to Mother

Etymology

The verb meaning to pamper is probably a variant of pamp,[4] which the Shorter Oxford expresses as a variant of the base of pamper;[13] in later use it is probably a shortening of pomper.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pamper or feed up: about 1400, in the Book to Mother.[4]

Semantic evolution

Later use is chiefly with up, and it widened from feeding to indulging or spoiling someone, dressing someone up, and flattering them.[4] The Shorter Oxford marks the verb as now dialectal,[13] and in south Worcestershire pomp up meant to puff someone up.[16]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – to pamper, feed up.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (dialect) To pamper or feed up.[4][13]
  2. With up: to indulge or spoil; to dress someone up; to flatter or puff up.[4][16]

pomp3 hairstyle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Clipping
First attested
1914 E. Wittmann, “Clipped Words”
Ultimate origin
English pompadour

Etymology

The word for the hairstyle is a shortening from English pompadour.[18][19]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pompadour hairstyle, in a 1914 American article on clipped words, which quotes "He wears his hair in a pomp."[19]

Semantic evolution

It was used in American English through the 20th century, especially of the hair of rockers and Teddy Boys.[19]

Timeline

  • 1914 – a pompadour hairstyle.[19]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (US slang) A pompadour hairstyle.[18][19]

Usage notes

The OED records the phrase to save one's pomp, to take the first five tricks or win the game (1788–1801), of unknown origin; it rejects Grose's suggestion of Welsh pump (“five”).[4] Green's Dictionary of Slang has an American campus pomp, a person who acts superior, clipped from pompous, and South African slang pomp, to have sex, from Afrikaans pomp (“to pump”).[19]

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 Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  19. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pomp.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pomp. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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