vandal

Etymology

Named after the Vandals, the Germanic tribe that sacked Rome in 455 under Genseric.^[1][2] It is borrowed from Late Latin Vandalus (plural Vandalī),^[3][4] a Latinized tribal name of Germanic origin,^[4][5][6] perhaps from Proto-Germanic *wandljaz “wanderer”.^[1]

The historical sense is recorded from the 1550s,^[1][3] and the sense “wilful destroyer of what is beautiful or venerable” from the 1660s.^[1][2] The Vandals may not have been any more destructive than other invaders; their reputation grew during the Enlightenment, when Rome was idealized.^[2]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] [3] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. [1] [2] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. [1] [2] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. [1] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. [1] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster