gay
Middle French
adj
Definitions
- cheerful; happy; gay
Etymology
Inherited from Old French gai (gay, cheerful, happy, merry, laughing, joyful) borrowed from Old Occitan gai (joyous, lively, impetuous, happy) derived from Latin vagus (wandering, strolling, flighty, vague, rambling, inconstant, uncertain, roaming, giddy, errant).
Origin
Latin
vagus
Gloss
wandering, strolling, flighty, vague, rambling, inconstant, uncertain, roaming, giddy, errant
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- vagus English
- Venerivagus Latin
- arenivagus Latin
- circumvagus Latin
- fluctivagus Latin
- gaius Latin
- harenivagus Latin
- ignivagus Latin
- ludivagus Latin
- lustrivagus Latin
- montivagus Latin
- multivagus Latin
- mundivagus Latin
- nemorivagus Latin
- noctivagus Latin
- nubivagus Latin
- paludivagus Latin
- pervagus Latin
- pontivagus Latin
- remivagus Latin
- solivagus Latin
- undivagus Latin
- vagor Latin
- vagus Latin
- vulgivagus Latin
- gaio Italian
- vago Italian
- gaai Dutch, Flemish
- gai French
- vague French
- *nas- Proto-Indo-European
- *ǵʰengʰ- Proto-Indo-European
- vag Norwegian Bokmål
- noctívago Portuguese
- vago Portuguese
- vag Norwegian Nynorsk
- gay Middle English
- gai Old French
- jai Old French
- gai Catalan, Valencian
- vague Catalan, Valencian
- gay Middle Dutch
- dgai Norman
- vague Middle French
- *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 Gothic
- *wagos Proto-Italic
- *gāhi Frankish
- *gāhi, *gahi Frankish
- *wāhi Frankish
- gai Old Occitan