Re: Vacillare

--- On Sun, 12/7/08, Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...> wrote:

> From: Francesco Brighenti <frabrig@...>
> Subject: [tied] Re: Vacillare
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Sunday, December 7, 2008, 6:46 PM
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen"
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> > Ernout-Meillet:
> >
> > 'uacillo: (uaccillo:, Lucr.3,502 tum quasi
> uaccillans consurgit et
> > onnis | paulatim redit in sensus), -a:s, -a:ui:,
> -a:tum, -a:re :
> > vaciller, chanceler (sens propre et dérivé).
> > Mot favori de Cicéron; non attesté avant lui, rare
> dans la 1.
> > impériale. Formes savantes dans les l. romanes,
> M.L.9112.
> > Dérivés: uacilla:tio:, -tor (Gloss.).
> > Mot expressif (cf. le type sorbillo:, etc.),
> d'origine obscure.
> > Le -cc-, attesté chez Lucrèce, est un exemple de
> gémination
> > expressive.'
> >
> > cf. Germ. wackeln "totter", Eng. waggle.
> >
> > The standard approach is to see the Lat. word as
> inherited, but
> > given the late attestation, could it be a Germanic
> loan?
>
> Indeed, the origin of the isolated Latin verb vacilla:re is
> deemed
> obscure by more than an author. Perhaps its origin is
> purely
> phonetic.
>

. . .
Interestingly enough, the most common meaning of vacilar in Spanish is "to sway" --hence "to dance, have fun, party, waste time, etc." A vacilón is a "party animal, wastrel"