Etymologically
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vague

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /veɪɡ/; /væɡ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French vague (“wandering; empty”),[2][3][4] from Latin vagus (“wandering, rambling, vacillating”) (see vagary),[2][3][5] which is of uncertain origin; de Vaan suggests a link with Old Norse vakka (“to stray, hover”) and Old High German wankōn (“to totter”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of statements, couched in general terms, without precise expression: 1548 in Barnhart, the OED and Merriam-Webster, the 1540s in Etymonline.[2][6][4][3] In the 16th century it applied the idea of a wandering mind to someone who could not think or speak clearly.[7]

Semantic evolution

Not precise in meaning, of words, is from 1690, in Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding,[2][6] and indefinite, of ideas, from before 1704, also in Locke.[2][6] Of feelings it is by 1797,[3][6] and of shapes indistinctly seen by 1822.[3][6] A separate noun vague, a prank, is recorded from 1523, chiefly in Scots.[6]

Timeline

  • 1548 – of imprecise statements.[2][6]
  • 1690 – of imprecise words.[2][6]
  • before 1704 – of ideas.[2][6]
  • 1797 – of feelings.[6]
  • 1822 – of indistinct shapes.[3][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not clearly expressed or explained; imprecise: vague promises.
  2. Not clearly seen or felt; indistinct, hazy.
  3. Of a person, not thinking or expressing oneself clearly; absent-minded.

Word family

  • vaguely
  • vagueness
  • unvague
  • vagabond
  • vagary
  • vagus
  • extravagant
  • vagrant
  • divagate

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press