English
grandiloquent
Grandiloquent comes from Latin grandiloquus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgrandiloquus
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600grandiloquent
- Englishearliest quotation 1898same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgrandiloquus
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600grandiloquent
- Englishearliest quotation 1898same form
Earliest quotation: 1898, William Graham Sumner, The Conquest of the United States by Spain: “The American people believe that they have a free…”
A compound of grandis ‘great, full’ + loquor ‘to speak’
Proto-Italic *grandis
Latin grandis ‘great, full’
Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ- ‘to talk’
Proto-Indo-European *tlokʷ-
Proto-Italic *tlokʷōr ‘to speak’
Latin loquor ‘to speak’
Every English word from Latin grandiloquus
Today it means
adj Given to using language in a showy way by using an excessive number of difficult words to impress others; bombastic; turgid.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin grandiloquus / grandiloquent