WikiWord

English

errant

/ˈɛɹ(ə)nt/ · adj

Meaning

  1. Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.
  2. Roving around; wandering.
  3. Prone to erring or making errors; misbehaving.
  4. Obsolete form of arrant (“complete; downright, utter”).
  5. A knight-errant.

Etymology / origin

From Middle English erraunt [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman erraunt, from Old French errant, the present participle of errer (“to walk (to); to wander (to); (figuratively) to travel, voyage”), and then: * from Vulgar Latin iterāre (compare Late Latin itinerāre, itinerāri (“to travel, voyage”)), from Latin iter (“a route (including a journey, trip; a course; a path; a road)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”); and * from Latin errantem, the accusative feminine or masculine singular of errāns (“straying, errant; wandering”), the present active participle of errō (“to rove, wander; to get lost, go astray; to err, wander from the truth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ers- (“to flow”). Doublet of arrant.

  1. *h₁ers-(ine-pro)→
  2. errantem(Latin)→
  3. *h₁ey-(ine-pro)→
  4. iter(Latin)→
  5. itinerāre(la-lat)→
  6. iterāre(la-vul)→
  7. errant(Old French)→
  8. erraunt(xno)→
  9. erraunt(enm)→
  10. *h₁ey-(ine-pro)→
  11. errant (English)
  12. Relations: root, inh, der, der, der, cog, der, der, der, der

Related words

*h₁ey-(ine-pro)erraunt(enm)erraunt(xno)errant(Old French)iterāre(la-vul)itinerāre(la-lat)iter(Latin)errantem(Latin)*h₁ers-(ine-pro)

Sources

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