vagus

English

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin vagus (“wandering, rambling, strolling”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈveɪɡəs/
• Rhymes: -eɪɡəs
• Hyphenation: va‧gus

Noun

vagus (plural vagi)

1. (Roman Catholicism) A homeless person or vagrant.
   • 1922, “Domicile”, in The Catholic encyclopedia, page 270:

     Though not referred in the Code as a domicile of origin, a child's place of origin is fixed by the place where his father had his domicile or, in defect of domicile, his quasi-domicile when the child was born, or where the mother had hers if the child was illegitimate or posthumous; if the parents were vagi it is the place where the child was born; if the child was a foundling the place where it was discovered.

2. The vagus nerve.

Related terms

• vague

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Latin

Etymology

Uncertain. De Vaan suggests from Proto-Italic *wagos, from Proto-Indo-European *Hwog-o-s, and compares this form to Old Norse vakka (“to totter”), Old High German wankon (“to totter”), winkan (“to waver, stagger”), Old English wincian (“to nod”). Compare with Old English waġian, English wag, and English vag (the verb).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯a.ɡus/, [ˈu̯äɡʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈva.ɡus/, [ˈväːɡus]

Adjective

vagus (feminine vaga, neuter vagum); first/second-declension adjective

1. wandering, rambling, strolling
2. (figuratively) uncertain, vague

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	vagus	vaga	vagum		vagī	vagae	vaga
Genitive	vagī	vagae	vagī		vagōrum	vagārum	vagōrum
Dative	vagō		vagō		vagīs
Accusative	vagum	vagam	vagum		vagōs	vagās	vaga
Ablative	vagō	vagā	vagō		vagīs
Vocative	vage	vaga	vagum		vagī	vagae	vaga

Derived terms

• arēnivagus
• circumvagus
• fluctivagus
• harēnivagus
• ignivagus
• lūdivagus
• lustrivagus
• montivagus
• multivagus
• mundivagus
• nemorivagus
• noctivagus
• nūbivagus
• omnivagus
• palūdivagus
• pervagus
• pontivagus
• rēmivagus
• sōlivagus
• undivagus
• vagor
• Venerivagus
• vulgivagus

 

Descendants

• Catalan: vague
• Czech: vágní
• Galician: vago
• Italian: vago
• Old French: vague
  • → Danish: vag
  • → Dutch: vaag
  • → English: vague
  • French: vague
  • → Swedish: vag
• Portuguese: vago
• Romanian: vag
• Spanish: vago
• Slovak: vágny

Further reading

• “vagus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “vagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vagus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• vagus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the planets: stellae errantes, vagae