Where does “vagrancy” come from?
Vagrancy comes from Middle English vagrauncie, derived from Middle English vagraunt, which traces to Latin -ia and -cia suffixes ultimately rooted in Proto-Indo-European -h₂.
vagrancy (English): the state of being a vagrant
Definitions
- the state of being a vagrant
Ancestry of “vagrancy”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | -cy | Used to form nouns of state, condition or quality... |
| 2 | Anglo-Norman | -cie | — |
| 3 | Latin | -tia | office, rank |
| 4 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 5 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |