DIVAGATE

[Dr. Goodword]

• divagate •

Pronunciation: di-vê-gayt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive (no object)

Meaning: 1. To wander about, meander, drift about in different directions. 2. To ramble, digress, stray from the point in speaking, writing, or thinking.

Notes: Today's Good Word hasn't been used much since the 19th century but that is no reason to avoid applying it today. There is still plenty of divagation (the action noun) in the world and divagators (the personal noun) who need to know what it is called.

In Play: Anything that moves in no particular direction divagates: "After puncturing the balloon with a pin, little Abner watched it rapidly divagate around the room before plopping to the floor." Abstractions divagate as well as concrete objects: "About halfway through his lecture on raising rice in South Carolina, Llewellyn divagated into a suite of reveries about partying his summers away in his ocean-front house at Myrtle Beach."

Word History: Today's Good Word, of course, comes from Latin, this time from the past participle, divagatus, of divagare "to wander around", made up of di(s)- "away, apart from" + vagari "to wonder". The root vagari was derived from vagus "strolling, wandering", a word which also ended up in English as vague, borrowed from Latin's descendant language, French. Although it resembles divagate a bit, navigate comes from a completely different source. It is built of navia "ship" + agere "to drive, lead", the root of English borrowings agent and act. (Before we divagate, let's remember to thank Lyn Laboriel for finding this lovely word and suggesting it to us.)

[Brigadininkas]

Word is suprisingly similiar to lithuanian word "nusi-vagoti".

Meaning of "nusivagoti" is to depart from straight course when achieving certain goals. The literal meaning is to depart from straigh line when ploughing.

"Vaga" - furrow

[Slava]

Word is suprisingly similiar to lithuanian word "nusi-vagoti".

Meaning of "nusivagoti" is to depart from straight course when achieving certain goals. The literal meaning is to depart from straigh line when ploughing.

"Vaga" - furrow

I'm wondering if these all are related to another "VAG" word many people obsess over:

vagina
1682, from L. vagina "sheath, scabbard" (pl. vaginæ), from PIE *wag-ina- (cf. Lith. voziu "ro cover with a hollow thing"), from base *wag- "to break, split, bite." Probably the ancient notion is of a sheath made from a split piece of wood (see sheath). A modern medical word; the L. word was not used in an anatomical sense in classical times. Anthropological vagina dentata is attested from 1908.
(dictionary.com)

A furrow, a sheath, etc. All "split," as in separated, going in different directions. Breaking off, divagating.

Any takers?

[Perry]

Perhaps some other wag will unsheath their thoughts.

[Slava]

Perhaps some other wag will unsheath their thoughts.

Not many wags left here in the abandoned agora. Any thoughts on how to get some?

[LukeJavan8]

I joined recently and have invited others, hope it is
not abandoned totally as I am really enjoying the
folks I've met here divagating around the threads.

I know a few others I may invite.