pompeux

Forms

pompeux (feminine pompeuse, masculine plural pompeux, feminine plural pompeuses)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Late Latin pomposus (“grave, measured, affected”), adapted to French, as Rey thinks;^[2] the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Littré also give the Latin word.^[3][4][5] The TLFi treats it as a derivative of pompe¹ modelled on the Late Latin adjective,^[6] and Wiktionary as the same noun with the suffix -eux.^[1] The Latin adjective is from pompa (“procession, pomp”).^[3][7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, about 1350 in the poems of Gilles li Muisis, describes a person who affects a somewhat ridiculous solemnity.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The Late Latin word meant “grave, measured”, of a gait, and “affected, emphatic”, of a person.^[2] In French it was soon used without criticism too: in 1409 of a magnificent procession or ceremony and in 1474 of a person of pomp and splendour, a sense now lost.^[6][2] Oresme wrote of “Hommes pompeus et en faiz et en diz” (men pompous in deeds and in words) in the 14th century.^[5]

From 1572, in Amyot's parole pompeuse, it qualified lofty language.^[6][2] The unfavourable sense, already frequent in Molière, Boileau and La Bruyère (Boileau's pompeux barbarisme, 1674), appears in the dictionaries only in the 19th century and is now the usual one.^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – Gilles li Muisis uses it of a person who affects solemnity.^[6]
• c. 1370 – The adverb pompeusement “with pomp” is recorded.^[6]
• 1409 – Used of a magnificent procession or ceremony.^[6][2]
• 1474 – Jean de Roye uses it of a person of pomp and splendour.^[6][2]
• 1572 – Amyot writes parole pompeuse.^[6]
• 1674 – Boileau writes pompeux barbarisme, in an unfavourable sense.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (archaic) Magnificent, sumptuous, of a procession or ceremony.^[4][6]
2. (dated) Expressed with solemnity.^[4]
3. Pompous, affecting a somewhat ridiculous solemnity: un style pompeux, un titre pompeux.^[4][1]

Word family

• pompeusement

Related words

• pompe¹
• Latin pomposus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse