Etymology

vagitate

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Today it means: To wander or move at random. Full definition →

Latin vagitō, vagitāre
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vagitate · verb1

  1. Latin · borrowed fromvagitō, vagitāre
  2. English todayvagitate

Attested earliest as a ghost word in the 1928 volume of the New English Dictionary On Historical Principles (NED). Some later uses may have been based (directly or indirectly) on this entry. The editors of the NED interpreted it as a borrowing from Latin vagitō, vagitāre, an obscure medieval verb Others read here "per Hispaniam e palatio vagitant". built on the root of Classical Latin vagor, vagārī (“to ramble, stroll about”), from vagus (“wandering”).

vagitate · verb2

  1. Latin · borrowed fromvāgiō, vāgīre“to wail, to squall (as an infant), to cry out”
  2. English todayvagitate

Borrowed from Latin vāgiō, vāgīre (“to wail, to squall (as an infant), to cry out”) via a frequentative form vāgītō, vāgītāre, attested in medieval Latin as a verb meaning "to wail, to cry out in distress (of an infant); to cry out (of a hare)". Compare French vagir, English vagitus (“the crying of a newborn baby”), vagient (“crying like a child”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.