erraticus

Forms

errāticus (feminine errātica, neuter errāticum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin errō + -āticus.^[2][1] The verb errō (“to wander”) goes back to Proto-Italic *ers-āje- and Proto-Indo-European *h1ers-o/h2- (“erring, error”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato has it first, of a wild cabbage, brassica errātica, as opposed to the cultivated plant.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is wandering, having no fixed place: Ovid calls Delos “wandering” because the island floated,^[2] and the stellae errāticae are the planets, in Varro, Gellius and Seneca.^[5][6] Cicero uses it of the winding course of a vine,^[2][7] Gellius of a vagrant,^[5] and Lactantius of a wandering life.^[5] In botany it meant growing wild, of cabbage, cucumber, chicory and willow.^[7] Lewis & Short note that it is mostly ante-classical and post-Augustan.^[7] Augustine uses it with a causative sense, of paths that lead astray,^[5] and medieval Latin has rēs errāticae, stray property.^[8]

English took it as erratic in the late 14th century, through Old French and directly from Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of wild cabbage.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero describes the wandering course of a vine.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid calls Delos the wandering island.^[2][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of the wandering stars, the planets.^[7][6][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of paths that lead astray.^[5][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as erratic.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wandering, roving, having no fixed place;^[2][7] stella errātica, a planet.^[2][7]
2. Winding, devious, of a movement.^[2]
3. Growing wild, of plants.^[2][7]
4. (Late Latin) Leading astray.^[5]
5. (Medieval Latin) rēs errāticae: stray property.^[8]

Related words

• English erratic

Usage notes

The grammarian Charisius distinguishes it from errāticius: the first is said of what can and habitually does wander, the second of a mind that is wont to wander but stops.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften