Vainglories

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An excessive pride in oneself and one’s achievements, often to the point of arrogance or boastfulness
2. The act of showing off one’s successes in a manner that seeks admiration from others
3. A preoccupation with personal glory that can lead to self-delusion and superficiality

Etymology: "Vainglories" is simply the plural of "vainglory," so the noun itself is the story. The base word arrived in Middle English as "waynglori," meaning "worthless glory," borrowed through Old French "vaine glorie" from Medieval Latin "vāna glōria." The Latin pieces are "vāna," meaning empty, groundless, or boastful, and "glōria," meaning fame, ambition, or boasting, so the word has always carried a sense of hollow self-regard. English did not invent the idea from scratch. Old English already had "īdel wuldor" and "īdelġielp," which express the same notion of vain glory, and the Latin-based form likely took shape partly under the influence of these Germanic terms. The result is a word that blends two traditions, with the Germanic and Latinate parts reinforcing one another.