a modern French term for a speech or oration made by an orator in public. Ménage derives the word from the Italian *arenza*, which signifies the same thing, and is formed, according to Ferrari, from *arringo*, a joust, or place of jousting. Others derive it from the Latin *ara*, an altar, by reason of the first harangues having been made before altars. The word is also frequently used in a bad sense, for a pompous, prolix, or unseemly speech or declamation.