From the Records of the Grand Historian (《
史记·
管晏列传》), describing the carriage-driver of Qi prime minister Yan Ying:
意气扬扬，
甚自得也 — 'his spirit was puffed-up, he was very self-satisfied.' Yan Ying's wife saw her husband's driver acting this way and demanded a divorce, ashamed to be married to such a small-souled man. The phrase
洋洋得意 derives from this
扬扬 self-satisfaction.
