vagus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈwa.ɡʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈvaː.ɡus]^[1]

Forms

vagus (feminine vaga, neuter vagum, adverb vagē); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[1] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Italic *wago-, possibly inherited from Proto-Indo-European *Hwog-o-, comparing Germanic verbs for tottering or wavering, such as Old Norse vakka, Old High German wankōn (“to totter, stagger”) and Old English wincian (“to nod”), which could continue a nasal present *Hu-en-g-.^[2][1] The OLD likewise compares Old Norse vakka (“to totter”) and Lithuanian vínguoti (“to make a detour”), and takes it to be related to vacillāre.^[3] Lewis and Short connected it with vehere “to carry”, an older view.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from Naevius onwards.^[2][5] Lucilius uses it of an exile who must “wander and live outside the law”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its core sense was moving freely from place to place, said of exiles, nomads, flocks and birds,^[3][4] and the planets were stellae vagae “wandering stars”.^[3][6] From this it meant shifting or inconstant, of winds and the sea, and scattered, of troops spread over a wide area.^[3] In Cicero and Seneca it described rambling speech and roundabout inquiry,^[3] and it was used of rumours without a clear source and of fickle people and lovers.^[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin and canon law a vagus was a person without any fixed domicile,^[7] and in medieval Latin the noun meant a wandering minstrel or scholar.^[5] The figurative sense “indefinite” passed to French vague and English vague.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero calls the planets stellae quasi vagae and calls a style of speech vagum.^[3][6][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of the nomadic Gaetulians.^[3][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca says a life without a purpose is vaga.^[3][5]
• Middle Ages – As a noun it means a wandering minstrel or scholar.^[5]
• 1540s – Its French descendant gives English vague.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wandering, roaming, roving; of nomads, unsettled.^[3][4]
2. stellae vagae: the planets.^[3]
3. Winding, changing direction.^[3]
4. Shifting, inconstant, as of winds and waves.^[3]
5. Scattered over a wide area; uncoordinated.^[3]
6. (of speech or inquiry) Rambling, roundabout.^[3]
7. Haphazard, aimless.^[3]
8. Not definite, not assignable to a source, as of rumours.^[3]
9. Fickle, changeable, wavering.^[3]
10. (Ecclesiastical Latin, as a noun) A person without a domicile, a vagrant.^[7]

Word family

• arēnivagus
• circumvagus
• flūctivagus
• harēnivagus
• ignivagus
• lūdivagus
• lustrivagus
• montivagus
• multivagus
• mundivagus
• nemorivagus
• noctivagus
• vagor

Related words

• English vague
• English vagabond

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com