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pompe

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Etymology and origin of the French word pompe

pompe1 pomp, solemn procession

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1165 Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Roman de Troie
Borrowed from
Latin pompa
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek πέμπω
Etymology tree of pompe1
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek πέμπω (pémpō)
Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ)
Latin pompa
English pomp
French pompe
Italian pompa
Romanian pompă
Spanish pompa
The journey of pompe1
From the same root · pompe1
English pompous ← πομπή
Latin pompōsus ← pompa

Pronunciation

Forms

pompe f (plural pompes)[1]

Etymology

The word for pomp and solemn procession is borrowed from Latin pompa (“procession, train, display”), taken over about 1165.[2][3][4] The Latin noun was itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πομπή (pompḗ, “a sending, escort, procession”), a noun of action from πέμπω (pémpō, “to send, to escort”), a verb of obscure origin.[3][1][5]

Cognate with Occitan pompa and Italian pompa.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1165 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie, for a sumptuous ceremonial, a display of splendour and luxury.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense of splendid ceremony lives on chiefly in en grande pompe, recorded before 1662 in Pascal and now often used jokingly.[2][3] In religious language the plural pompes meant the false glamour and vanities of the world from about 1350, as in renoncer au monde et à ses pompes (1690); the use is still known but archaic.[2][3]

The sense “solemn procession” (before 1502, La Marche) has gone out of use except in pompes funèbres, recorded for a funeral ceremony in 1503 and, by metonymy, for the undertakers' firm from 1834.[2] Rey has the singular pompe funeralles (1530) and pompe funèbre (1552) before the plural phrase.[3] Following the Greek word, it was also used of a noble, elevated style (1636); from 1798 it meant a too visible striving for grandeur in writing or art, and only this critical shade survives.[2][3] In the tailoring trade it named a retouching job (1867) and the team of journeymen tailors (1842).[3][2]

Rey notes that, because it sounds the same as pompe “pump”, the word has become old-fashioned or ironic in all its non-technical uses except pompes funèbres.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1165 – First recorded in the Roman de Troie, of sumptuous ceremony.[2]
  • c. 1350 – The plural pompes is used for the vanities of the world.[2][3]
  • Before 1502 – La Marche uses it for a solemn procession.[2]
  • 1503 – Pompes funebres “funeral ceremony” appears in Lemaire de Belges.[2]
  • 1636 – Monet records the sense “noble, elevated style”.[2][3]
  • Before 1662 – En grande pompe appears in Pascal's Pensées.[2][3]
  • 1798 – The Académie records the critical sense “bombast”.[2]
  • 1834 – Pompes funèbres names the undertakers' firm.[2][3]
  • 1842 – It names the team of journeymen tailors.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated or literary) A display of splendour in a ceremony, pomp.[7][2]
  2. (literary) A solemn procession.[2][5]
  3. Pompes funèbres: the undertakers, a funeral director's firm.[7][2]
  4. En grande pompe: with great, often exaggerated, solemnity: Le nouveau préfet a été accueilli en grande pompe.[7][3]
  5. (dated) Nobility of style;[7][2] (pejorative) bombast.[7][2]
  6. (religion) In the plural, the vanities of the world: renoncer à Satan, à ses pompes et à ses œuvres.[7][6]

pompe2 pump

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1440–1441 accounts of the episcopal manor of Rouen
Borrowed from
Middle Dutch pompe
Ultimate origin
Middle Dutch pompe

Pronunciation

Forms

pompe f (plural pompes)[1]

Etymology

The word for the pump is probably borrowed from Middle Dutch pompe, which had the same meaning; the Dutch word is recorded from 1463 for an underground water pipe and since 1556 for the machine itself.[2][3][8] It is probably onomatopoeic and belongs to a Germanic group that includes English pump, recorded about 1440.[2][3] Rey and the Grand Robert suggest an expressive root ⟨p-p⟩ evoking the sound of sucking, as in papa, poupée and poupon, here in a nasalized form, as in pompon.[3][9] The Grand Robert leaves open whether the French word came from the Dutch or the English one,[9] and the Petit Robert calls the origin unknown, perhaps a Latin root ⟨pupp-⟩ “to suck”.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1440–41 in the building accounts of the bishop's manor at Rouen, for a machine that sucks up or drives a liquid; an entry of 1448–49 pays for putting back “la pompe de la fosse de la court” (the pump of the courtyard pit) to draw off its water.[2]

Semantic evolution

The machine gave pompe aspirante (1680), pompe à incendie (1722) and, in the 20th century, pompe à essence (1929), whose short form pompe gave pompiste.[2][3] Pompe de chaleur (1953), then pompe à chaleur (1963), is a calque of the English heat pump.[2][3] By analogy, serrure à pompe (1898) is a kind of safety lock with a piston.[2][3]

The slang uses date from the later 19th century.[3] According to Esnault, pompe aspirante was a slang name for a shoe with holes in it (1848), whence pompe came to mean “shoe”, first in Berry (1869) and then generally; it was then used of the foot (1884) and the leg, in courir à toutes pompes (1921), and gave marcher à côté de ses pompes (1978).[2][3] The idea of physical exhaustion appears in avoir la pompe (1909), hence coup de pompe (1922),[3][2] and the plural pompes is a gymnastic exercise (1936), the arm movements recalling the working of a pump.[3][2] In 20th-century army slang, then in familiar speech, deuxième pompe meant a private soldier.[3]

The derivative pompier meant a pump maker in 1517 and a fireman from 1750.[2]

Timeline

  • 1440–41 – First recorded at Rouen for a machine that raises or drives liquid.[2]
  • 1517 – The derivative pompier names a pump maker.[2]
  • 1680 – Richelet records pompe aspirante.[2]
  • 1722 – Pompe à incendie “fire engine pump” is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1848 – Pompe aspirante is slang for a shoe with holes.[2][3]
  • 1869 – Pompe means “shoe” in Berry.[2][3]
  • 1922 – Coup de pompe “sudden exhaustion” is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1929 – Giono uses pompe à essence.[2]
  • 1936 – The plural pompes names a gymnastic exercise.[2][3]
  • 1953 – Pompe de chaleur appears, after the English heat pump.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pump, a device that moves a liquid or gas by suction or pressure.[7][2]
  2. Pompe à essence: a petrol pump.[2][3]
  3. Pompe à chaleur: a heat pump.[2][3]
  4. (familiar) A shoe: Il a ciré ses pompes avant la noce.[3][1]
  5. Coup de pompe: a sudden bout of exhaustion.[2][3]
  6. In the plural, push-ups: Elle fait trente pompes chaque matin.[3][1]
  7. (music) A strumming style used especially in gypsy jazz.[1]
  8. (slang) Deuxième pompe: a private soldier.[3]

Word family

  • pomper
  • pompier
  • pompiste
  • thermopompe

Usage notes

Wiktionary treats the slang word for a shoe as a borrowing of the English pump “a low shoe”,[1] while the TLFi and Rey derive it from the pump through pompe aspirante;[2][3] Rey notes that the English word had named a close-fitting dancing shoe since the 16th century.[2][3] The Grand Robert also has a third pompe, “ribbon knot, tuft” (15th–16th century), from the same expressive root as pompon.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ 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 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 143b
  5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 644b
  9. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

  • placard · also from Middle Dutch
  • bloc · also from Middle Dutch
  • vase · also from Middle Dutch
  • cabaret · also from Middle Dutch
  • ruban · also from Middle Dutch
  • étape · also from Middle Dutch
  • crabe · also from Middle Dutch
  • pique · also from Middle Dutch
Cite this entry

“Pompe.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/pompe. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·