Today's Word "Errant"
Published in Vocabulary
errant \E-rehnt\ (adjective) - Off course, off track, straying from appropriate standards; roving aimlessly or in pursuit of elusive goals.
"The errant boys were brought into the principal's office for the third time that week."
The word is a confusion of the participle of Old French errer "to wander" and that of Old French errer "to wander off course, err." The first verb originates in Latin iterare "travel" from Latin iter "journey." The second goes back to Late Latin errare "go or lead astray." These two verbs ultimately converged over time in the Romance languages (cf. Spanish "errar" and Italian "errare"). Today's word is akin to erratic "wandering from place to place; irregular in movement or behavior." Today's word is closely knit with the phrase "knights errant," referring to knights who went out in search of adventures that would prove their chivalry. Today this phrase refers to someone who embarks on quixotic ventures: "Sigfried is this university's knight errant of the pass-fail grading system." Be careful not to confuse this word with arrant "complete, thorough, absolute," as in "an arrant fool" or "his arrant intoxication by her beauty."
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