vagary

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Latin vagor (“to wander, roam”),^[2][3][4][5] from vagus (“roving, wandering”),^[3][6][7][4] the source of vague.^[6][8] The OED and Etymonline also point to Italian vagare, and Etymonline allows it as the immediate source.^[2][6] The Latin infinitive seems to have been taken over as a noun and fitted to the nouns in -ary, since the form that would match, Latin *vagarius or *vagaria, is not found;^[6] Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary's remark that this "can hardly be explained except as an orig. university use".^[6] Weekley likewise calls the borrowing abnormal, and notes that in the 17th century it was often spelled fegary,^[9] which the OED compares and records from 1600.^[2] Latin vagus is of uncertain origin.^[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged suggests Proto-Indo-European *u̯og-, akin to Old High German wankon (“to totter, stagger”) and Old English wincian (“to nod”),^[4] and Klein tentatively a base *wag- (“to bend”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a horse, in the phrase to play his vagary, to leave or refuse the proper course: 1566, in Blundeville's Arte of Rydynge.^[2] Barnhart dates the noun to 1573–80 and Etymonline to the 1570s,^[3][6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1572 for the sense of a digression.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word began with physical wandering: a roaming journey or ramble, used from 1577 to 1826.^[2][6] It was applied early to wandering in speech or writing, a digression (1572–1762).^[2][10] From 1588 it also meant straying from orderly conduct, a frolic or prank, a sense now rare.^[2][11] Weekley and Etymonline derive the modern meaning from this idea of mental wandering.^[9][6] Etymonline dates "eccentric notion or conduct" to the 1620s and the Shorter Oxford to the early 17th century,^[6][11] while the OED's first quotations for a capricious action and a caprice of fortune or fancy are from 1711 and 1717, and for an extravagant idea from 1753.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a wild freak; a capricious frolick", quoting Milton's "into strange vagaries fell, As they wou'd dance".^[12] From 1923 the OED records it for an irregular course or distribution, which is also the sense of an unexpected departure from a normal order in Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[2][4] A verb meaning to wander or roam was used from 1598, in Florio, until 1681 in the OED, and until the late 18th century in the Shorter Oxford.^[2][11]

Timeline

• 1566 – to play his vagary, of a horse leaving its course.^[2]
• 1572 – a wandering in speech or writing, a digression (now obsolete).^[2][4]
• 1577 – a wandering journey, an excursion (obsolete by 1826).^[2]
• 1588 – a departure from proper conduct; a frolic or prank.^[2]
• 1598 – verb, to wander or roam (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1711 – a capricious or eccentric action.^[2]
• 1717 – a caprice of fortune, fancy or the like.^[2]
• 1753 – a fantastic or extravagant idea.^[2]
• 1923 – an irregular course or distribution.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An erratic, unpredictable change or action, or an odd notion; a whim or caprice, usually in the plural: The vagaries of the mountain weather spoiled our climb.^[8][11][2]
2. A departure from an expected or normal order or course; an irregular course or distribution.^[4][2]
3. (rare) A departure from proper conduct; a frolic or prank.^[2][11][4]
4. (archaic) A wandering journey or excursion (obsolete in the OED, 1577–1826).^[4][2][11]
5. (archaic) An aimless digression in speech or writing (obsolete in the OED, 1572–1762).^[4][2][11]

Verb

1. (obsolete, 1598–1681) To wander or roam.^[2][11]

Word family

• vagarious

Related words

• vague
• vagrancy
• vagrant
• vagabond
• divagate
• extravagance
• fegary

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.