pompous adj.

c. 1300, "ostentation and display," especially on parade, from Old French pompe "pomp, magnificence" (13c.) and directly from Latin pompa "procession, pomp," from Greek pompē "solemn procession, display, escort," literally "a sending," from pempein "to send," which is of unknown etymology. In Church Latin, used in deprecatory sense for "worldly display, vain show." The meaning "feeling of arrogance and vanity" (usually paired alliteratively with pride) is from early 14c.

early 15c., pomposite, "solemnity" (a sense now obsolete), from Medieval Latin pompositas, from Late Latin pomposus "stately, pompous" (see pompous). The sense of "ostentatious display," usually objectionable, is from 1610s in English; earlier in French pomposité.