philippic: [16] The original philippics (in Greek philippikós) were a series of speeches in which the Athenian orator Demosthenes denounced the political ambitions of Philip of Macedon in the 4th century BC (the word was a derivative of the Greek name Phílippos ‘Philip’, which etymologically means ‘horse-lover’). The term was subsequently applied (as Latin philippicus) to the speeches of Cicero attacking Mark Anthony, and in due course became a general word for a ‘fierce denunciation’. [philippic etymology, philippic origin, 英语词源]