Word of the Day: SAUNTER
To stroll aimlessly
saunter (verb) - to walk or travel in a leisurely, idle, or aimless fashion; to wander or stroll [sawn-ter]
a saunter is a leisurely stroll or ramble
BREAKDOWN: The word saunter is an old one with an uncertain etymology. The best origin story for saunter can be traced through prominent naturalists from John Muir to Henry David Thoreau all the way back to Samuel Johnson, who wrote the following in his 1755 Dictionary of the English Language and Beyond:
To SAUNTER v.n. [aller à la sainte terre, from idle people who roved about the country, and asked charity under pretence of going à la sainte terre, to the holy land, or sans terre, as having no settled home] To wander about idly ; to loiter ; to linger.
Thoreau also posited an alternate interpretation, suggesting that instead of a reference to the fabled Holy Land, saunter might derive “from sans terre, without land or a home, which, therefore, in the good sense, will mean, having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere.” In either interpretation, saunterers were deemed akin to vagrants or vagabonds.
[Our Wednesday Wildcards are fascinating and important words that are not necessarily derived from classical roots.]