errant
[er-uh nt]
- deviating from the regular or proper course; erring; straying.
- journeying or traveling, as a medieval knight in quest of adventure; roving adventurously.
- moving in an aimless or lightly changing manner: an errant breeze.
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Origin of errant
1300–50; Middle English erraunt < Middle French, Old French errant, present participle of errer, edrer to travel < Vulgar Latin *iterāre to journey, for Late Latin itinerārī, derivative of iter, stem itiner- journey (see itinerary); confused with Middle French errant, present participle of errer to err
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
errant
- archaic, or literary wandering in search of adventure
- erring or straying from the right course or accepted standards
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French: journeying, from Vulgar Latin iterāre (unattested), from Latin iter journey; influenced by Latin errāre to err
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for errantly
errant
adj.
mid-14c., "travelling, roving," from Anglo-French erraunt, from two Old French words that were confused even before they reached English: 1. Old French errant, present participle of errer "to travel or wander," from Late Latin iterare, from Latin iter "journey, way," from root of ire "to go" (see ion); 2. Old French errant, past participle of errer (see err). The senses fused in English 14c., but much of the sense of the latter since has gone with arrant.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper