C19: after Sir John Falstaff, a character in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts I–II (1597)
Falstaffian in American English
(fɔlˈstæfiən)
adjective
of, pertaining to, or having the qualities of Falstaff, esp. his robust, bawdy humor, good-natured rascality, and brazen braggadocio
Falstaffian wit
Word origin
[1800–10; falstaff + -ian]This word is first recorded in the period 1800–10. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Caucasian, gong, sodium, studio, unprofessional-ian is a suffix occurring originally in adjectives borrowed from Latin, formed from nounsdenoting places (Italian) or persons (Flavian), and now productively forming English adjectives by extension of the Latin pattern.Attached to geographical names, it denotes provenance or membership (Washingtonian), the latter sense now extended to membership in social classes, religious denominations,etc. (Episcopalian; pedestrian). Attached to personal names, it has the additional senses “contemporary with” ( Victorian) or “proponent of” (Hegelian; Freudian) the person specified by the noun base. It also occurs in a set of personal nouns,mainly loanwords from French, denoting one who engages in, practices, or works withthe referent of the base noun (comedian; grammarian; theologian)