Etymology and origin of the Latin word vastum
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- 770, charter
- Ultimate origin
- Latin vastus
Forms
vāstum n (genitive vāstī); second declension[1] Medieval spellings include gastum, guastum and wastum.[2][3][4]
Etymology
It is from Latin vastus (“empty, desolate”), whose neuter was used as a noun.[5][4] Niermeyer derives it from the verb vāstō (“to lay waste”).[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler finds it first in a charter of 770,[4] in the senses of devastation and uncultivated land.[4]
Semantic evolution
In early medieval Latin it meant waste land, deserted and uncultivated; ravage or devastation; and the clearing of a forest.[2] Du Cange glosses it as destruction and quotes the Magna Carta on the guardian of an heir's land.[3] The noun passed through Anglo-French wast into English as waste “desolate, uncultivated land”.[5]
Timeline
- 770 – A charter has the word.[4]
- c. 1200 – English has waste “wild, desolate regions”, through Anglo-French from this word.[5]
Meanings
Noun
- (Medieval Latin) Waste land, deserted and uncultivated.[2][1]
- (Medieval Latin) Devastation, ravage, destruction.[2][3][1]
- (Medieval Latin) Deforestation.[2][1]
Related words
Usage notes
A second medieval vastum stands for bastum, a packsaddle, in an inventory of 1476 quoted by Du Cange.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry
“Vastum.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/vastum. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.
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