köken: From Old Japanese. First cited in the Nihon Shoki of 720. Derived as the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb みやぶ (miyabu, “to be courtly, elegant, refined, high-quality”), in turn from 宮 (miya, “palace, imperial court”) + ぶ (bu, verb-forming suffix with a meaning of "to seem like, to have that quality").
Etymology tree Latin ēlegāns Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin ēlegantialbor. Polish elegancja Learned borrowing from Latin ēlegantia.