Etymograph

English

vacation

Vacation comes from Middle English vacation, from Anglo-Norman vacacioun, from Old French vacacion, from Latin vacātiō ‘freedom, exemption’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacātiō‘freedom, exemption’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vacacion
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400vacacioun
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vacation
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacātiō‘freedom, exemption’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400vacacion
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400vacacioun
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vacation
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603same form

Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “The first exploited his, sundrie waies, and excelleth in…”

Formed from vacate + -ion

Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘to lack’

…

Latin vacō ‘to be idle’

Latin vacat

Middle English vacat ‘absence or cancellation noted in a register’

Early Modern English vacat ‘legal annulment’

English vacate

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘to lack’

want, waste, various, variety, vast, vary, void, variable, vanity, vain, vacant, vanish, waning, evacuate, wane, vacuous, varicella, evanescent, 27 more

Today it means

noun An extended trip or journey away from home for rest or pleasure.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin vacātiō / vacation

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