Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Gallivant

With the lifting of various pandemic restrictions, it seems that many folks are eager to gallivant—that is (according to Merriam-Webster) "to travel, roam, or move about for pleasure."  A second, older definition that might also apply: "to go about usually ostentatiously or indiscreetly with members of the opposite sex."

Older, eh? And just how old, and from what corner of the etymological realm does gallivant hail?

Let us found out...

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Merriam-Webster has this explanation:

Back in the 14th century, a young man of fashion (or a ladies' man) was called a gallant. By the late 1600s, gallant was being used as a verb to describe the process a paramour used to win a lady's heart; to gallant became a synonym of "to court." Etymologists think that the spelling of the verb gallant was altered to create gallivant, which originally meant "to act as a gallant."

World Wide Words notes that gallivant hints of galloping about in frolicsome high spirits, and offers up an early Oxford English Dictionary definition: "to gad about in a showy fashion." Gad, it turns out, originates from gadling, an obsolete German word for a vagabond.

But I digress.

Turning to the Online Etymological Dictionary, I discover to my glee that they also reference the "gad about" definition, and provide a date for gallivant: 1809.

So, if you go gallivanting or gadding about, do take care and follow the precautions set out by various health organizations. We're not out of the pandemic woods yet!

Should you a-gallivanting go, be sure to wear your mask...
Masked Party in a Courtyard by Pietro Longhi, 1755 (St. Louis Art Museum)