bombast

The story

1. Middle Persian · derived frompmbk'“cotton”
2. Ancient Greek · derived fromβόμβυξ“silkworm”
3. Late Latin · derived frombombax“cotton”
4. Old French · derived frombombace“cotton, cotton wadding”
5. English todaybombast

From Old French bombace (“cotton, cotton wadding”), from Late Latin bombax (“cotton”), a variant of bombyx (“silkworm”), from Ancient Greek βόμβυξ (bómbux, “silkworm”), possibly related to Middle Persian pmbk' (“cotton”), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to twist, wind”.

Words from the same roots