errant
English
Etymology
From Middle English erraunt [and other forms],[1] 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:[2]
- 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.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɛɹ(ə)nt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɛɹənt/
- Homophone: arrant (in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)
- Hyphenation: er‧rant
Adjective
errant (comparative more errant, superlative most errant)
- Straying from the proper course or standard, or outside established limits.
- 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 6th book, page 244:
- In that there are just seven Planets or errant Stars in the lower Orbs of heaven: but it is now demonstrable unto sense, that there are many more
- 1941 October, “Notes and News: A Highland Runaway”, in Railway Magazine, page 469:
- They were all doomed to be disappointed, however, for the errant engine decided at Stanley junction to spend the remainder of its crowded hour of freedom on the Aberdeen line, and finally came to rest, short of breath, in the dip between Ballathie and Cargill, near the bridge over the Tay.
- Roving around; wandering.
- Prone to making errors; misbehaving.
- We ran down the street in pursuit of the errant dog.
- (chiefly with a negative connotation, obsolete) Obsolete form of arrant (“complete; downright, utter”).
- 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
- Thy company, if I slept not very well / A nights, would make me an errant fool […]
Usage notes
Although arrant is a variant of errant, their modern meanings have diverged. Arrant is used in the sense “complete; downright; utter” (for example, “arrant knaves”), while errant means “roving around; wandering” and is often used after the noun it modifies (for example, “knight errant”). The use of errant to mean “complete; downright; utter”, and arrant to mean “roving around; wandering”, is obsolete.
Derived terms
Translations
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References
- “erraunt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “errant, adj. (and n.)”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “errant, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
- “errant, arrant”, in Merriam–Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1994, →ISBN, pages 406–407.
- William Safire (2006 January 22) “On Language: Arrant Nonsense”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 September 2021.
- Paul Brians (2009) “arrant/errant”, in Common Errors in English Usage, 2nd edition, Wilsonville, Or.: William, James & Company, →ISBN.
- “errant”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
Catalan
Pronunciation
Adjective
errant m or f (masculine and feminine plural errants)
Derived terms
- cavaller errant
- jueu errant
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Further reading
- “errant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
French
Etymology
From Old French errant, from Latin errantem.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /e.ʁɑ̃/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “errant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Latin
Old French
Etymology
Present participle of errer (“to wander”), from Latin iterō (“I travel; I voyage”) rather than from errō, which is the ancestor of the other etymology of error (“to err; to make an error”).
Adjective
errant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular errant or errante)
- wandering; nomadic
- 12th century CE, Thomas de Kent, Roman de toute chevalerie [Novel of all chivalry], translation of Alexander romance; republished as B. Foster, with the assistance of I. Short, editor, The Anglo-Norman 'Alexander', London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1976, ANTS 29-31 (1976), and 32-33 (1977):
- si est un pople qe n’est mie erranz; Ja n'istra de son regne
- If it's a people that is not nomadic, it will never leave his kingdom