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Origin and history of ramble

ramble(v.)

mid-15c., ramblen, "to wander, roam about in a leisurely manner," perhaps frequentative of romen "to walk, go" (see roam), perhaps via romblen (late 14c.) "to ramble." The vowel change is perhaps by influence of Middle Dutch rammelen, a derivative of rammen "copulate," "used of the night wanderings of the amorous cat" [Weekley], or the Middle English word might be from the Dutch one. Meaning "to talk or write incoherently" is from 1630s. Related: Rambled; rambling.

ramble(n.)

"a roving, an act of wandering for recreation or pleasure," especially a leisurely walk in varying directions, 1650s, from ramble (v.).

also from 1650s

Entries linking to ramble

rambling(adj.)

1620s, "wandering about from place to place," present-participle adjective from ramble (v.). From 1630s as "wandering from topic to topic."

roam(v.)

c. 1300, romen, "walk, go, walk about;" early 14c., "wander about, prowl," a word of obscure origin, possibly from Old English *ramian "act of wandering about," which is probably related to aræman "arise, lift up."

There are no certain cognate forms in other Germanic languages, but Barnhart and Middle English Compendium point to Old Norse reimuðr "act of wandering about," reimast "to haunt."

"Except in late puns, there is no evidence of connexion with the Romance words denoting pilgrims or pilgrimages to Rome ...." [OED], such as Spanish romero "a pilot-fish; a pilgrim;" Old French romier "traveling as a pilgrim; a pilgrim," from Medieval Latin romerius "a pilgrim" (originally to Rome). Transitive sense is from c. 1600. Related: Roamed; roamer; roaming.

rambler(n.)

"a rover, a wanderer," 1620s, agent noun from ramble (v.). The Nash Rambler U.S. automobile was produced 1950-55.

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    1540s, "to shake up and down," perhaps altered from Middle English shoggen "to shake, jolt, move with a jerk" (late 14c.), a word of uncertain origin. Meanings "touch or push slightly," "stir up or stimulate by hint or push," and "walk or ride with a jolting pace" all are from 16
    roll
    c. 1200, rolle, "rolled-up piece of parchment or paper, scroll" (especially one inscribed with an official record), from Old French rolle "document, parchment scroll, decree" (12c.), Medieval Latin rotulus "a roll of paper" (source also of Spanish rollo, Italian rullo), from Lati
    wander
    Middle English wandren, from Old English wandrian "move about aimlessly, wander," from West Germanic *wundrōjanan "roam about" (source also of Old Frisian wondria, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wanderen, German wandern "to wander," a variant form of the verb represented in Old
    strip
    West Saxon bestrypan "to plunder"), from Proto-Germanic *straupijan (source also of Middle Dutch stropen "to strip off, to ramble...about plundering," Old High German stroufen "to strip off, plunder," German streifen "strip off, touch upon, to ramble,...
    scramble
    Meaning "a walk or ramble involving clambering and struggling with obstacles" is from 1755....
    tour
    Sense of "a continued ramble or excursion" is from 1640s....
    perambulation
    (nominative perambulatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin perambulare "to walk through, go through, ramble...
    swan
    large, web-footed swimming bird, stately and graceful in the water, noted for its long neck and white down; Old English swan "swan," from Proto-Germanic *swanaz "singer" (source also of Old Saxon swan, Old Norse svanr, Danish svane, Swedish svan, Middle Dutch swane, Dutch zwaan,
    cast
    c. 1200, "throw, throw violently, fling, hurl," from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse kasta "to throw" (cognate with Swedish kasta, Danish kaste, North Frisian kastin), a word of uncertain origin. The meaning "to form in a mold" is late 15c. In the sense of "to throw" it r
    promenade
    1560s, "a leisurely walk, a walk for pleasure or display," from French promenade "a walking, a public walk" (16c.), from se promener "go for a walk," from Late Latin prominare "to drive (animals) onward," from pro "forth" (see pro-) + minare "to drive (animals) with shouts," from

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