vagabundus

Forms

vagābundus (feminine vagābunda, neuter vagābundum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vagor + -bundus, from the verb vagor “to wander, roam”.^[2][3][1] The verb is made from the adjective vagus “wandering”, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *wago- and, with a question mark, to Proto-Indo-European *Huog-o-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short call it ante- and post-classical: the oldest instance is from the historian Fenestella, quoted by Fulgentius.^[2][3] The first dated author is Solinus, who uses it of a wandering man and, figuratively, of spreading fire.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Augustine uses it of himself as a roaming listener in the Confessions.^[2][3] In medieval Latin it described anyone moving from place to place without a fixed course, and of rumour or fame that spread,^[7] and it was used as a noun for a vagrant or wanderer from the Carolingian capitularies on.^[6][7]

Through Old French vagabond it reached English in the early 15th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of a wandering man and of spreading flame.^[3][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in the Confessions.^[2][6]
• 789 – A capitulary uses it as a noun for a vagrant.^[6]
• early 15th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as vagabond.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wandering about, roaming, unsettled.^[2][3][5]
2. (of fire, rumour) Spreading.^[5][7]

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A vagrant, wanderer.^[6][9][7]

Related words

• vagus
• English vagabond

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill