English
rover
From rove (“to roam, wander; (archery) to shoot an arrow randomly”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns from verbs).
The story
Rove is derived from Late Middle English *roven, rove (‘to wander’); further etymology uncertain, possibly an English Midlands variant of Northern England raven, rave (‘to rove, stray, wander’), possibly from Old Norse ráfa (‘to roam, wander’) (although rove and rave are only attested much later), possibly from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (‘to cause to weave; to entangle, wrap’), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (‘to braid, weave’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Another origin of rover
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hrewp-‘to break, tear (up)’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raubōną‘to plunder, rob, steal’reconstructed
- Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500rôveruncertain
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rover
- Englishtodaysame form
Today it means
noun One who roves: a person or animal that travels around, especially over a wide area, without a fixed destination; a nomad, a roamer, a wanderer.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / rover