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prettygoodworddivagate (DEYE-vuh-gayt or DIH-vuh-gayt) - v., to wander, stray, ramble, digress.
In both physical (wander off the path) and verbal (wander off the subject) senses -- and I'm especially fond of the latter, an art I learned from Byron, who one spent an entire book of Don Juan divagating from the story, starting with Juan's first sight of London but ending without taking his hero another step. But I digress. Adopted in the 1590s from Latin dīvagātus, past participle of dīvagārī, to wander off, from di(s)-, apart + vagārī, to wander (the same root as vagrant and, going back to PIE, walk).
---L.
In both physical (wander off the path) and verbal (wander off the subject) senses -- and I'm especially fond of the latter, an art I learned from Byron, who one spent an entire book of Don Juan divagating from the story, starting with Juan's first sight of London but ending without taking his hero another step. But I digress. Adopted in the 1590s from Latin dīvagātus, past participle of dīvagārī, to wander off, from di(s)-, apart + vagārī, to wander (the same root as vagrant and, going back to PIE, walk).
---L.
