From Latin 'arrogāns,' from 'arrogāre' — literally 'asking unto oneself,' claiming rights without authorization, via Old French (14th c.).
Having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities; overbearingly presumptuous.
From Latin 'arrogāntem' (accusative of 'arrogāns'), present participle of 'arrogāre' (to claim for oneself, to assume, to appropriate), composed of 'ad-' (to, toward) + 'rogāre' (to ask, to request, to propose). The literal sense is 'asking toward oneself' — claiming something that rightfully belongs to others or to the public. In Roman law, 'arrogāre' had a specific technical meaning: to adopt an adult citizen as one's son, literally 'to ask (the assembly) for' the person to be transferred into one's family. The extended sense of presumptuous self-aggrandizement grew from the
The Latin 'arrogāre' originally described a specific legal act: claiming a right or privilege that had not been granted. Roman law distinguished between 'rogāre' (to ask properly through channels) and 'arrogāre' (to ask something unto oneself without permission). The word carried its legal disapproval into ordinary language — arrogance