noctivagus

Forms

noctivagus (feminine noctivaga, neuter noctivagum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin nox (“night”) + vagor (“to wander”) with the adjective ending -us, according to the OLD;^[2] Wiktionary and Georges take the second part as vagus (“wandering”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius,^[4][5] who calls the stars the night-roaming torches of the sky (noctivagae facēs caelī).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A poetic word in Classical Latin,^[6] it was used above all of the heavenly bodies and of the night: Virgil has the moon goddess drive her night-wandering chariot (currū noctivagō Phoebē), Seneca calls her noctivaga Phoebē, and Statius applies it to the shades of night and to the god of sleep.^[2][3] Valerius Flaccus speaks of a journey by night.^[6][3] Faustus, quoted in Augustine's reply to him, speaks of a night-wandering sower.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it was used as a noun for a night-wanderer or prowler.^[7][8] In English legal records from the 14th and 15th centuries a commūnis noctivagus was a “common nightwalker”, a person of bad repute who roamed the streets at night, and a record of 1467 gives the English word nyghtwalker beside it.^[8]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius calls the stars noctivagae facēs caelī.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the moon's chariot.^[2][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of the shades of night.^[2][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine quotes it in his reply to Faustus.^[3][5]
• 1375 – A Norwich court record calls a man a commūnis noctivagus.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Roaming or wandering by night.^[2][6]
2. (of heavenly bodies and the night) Moving through the night sky.^[2][3]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A night-wanderer, prowler.^[7][8]
2. (Medieval Latin, law) commūnis noctivagus: a common nightwalker.^[8]

Related words

• nox
• vagor
• vagus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press