Etymologically
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ambulatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [am.bʊˈɫaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [am.buˈlat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

ambulātiō f (genitive ambulātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ambulō (“to walk”) + -tiō.[2][1][3][4] De Vaan explains that verb from ambi- (“around”) and a present ⟨*ala-⟩, from Proto-Italic *ala- (“to wander”) and Proto-Indo-European *h2elh2- (“to wander”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἀλάομαι (aláomai, “to wander, roam”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,[5] who describes a walk in the open air around the banks of a stream.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of walking, especially as exercise, as Celsus prescribes it, or a stroll taken for pleasure: Cicero keeps a subject for the walks of the Compitalia.[2][6] Lewis & Short note that it is a prose word, most frequent in Cicero, and the TLL that the poets avoid it except in one passage of Catullus.[6][3] Quintilian uses it of the orator's walking about on the platform.[6] Concretely it is a place for walking, an open walk or promenade, or a covered one, a portico, usually near a house.[2][6] English ambulation (1570s) is the act of walking about.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of an open walk.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of strolls and of a portico.[2][4]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus of walking as exercise.[2]
  • 1570s – English ambulation.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of walking, walking as exercise; a stroll.[2][6][1]
  2. A place for walking: an open walk, promenade; a covered walk, portico.[2][6][1]

Word family

  • ambulātiuncula

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com