In yesterday’s post I mentioned that a pair of mourning doves ‘sauntered’ along our deck railing. Not long after she read it, a dear friend reached out to torment me 😉 with a text barrage about the origin of the word ‘saunter’. I love a good etymology rabbit hole, but I was unprepared for the controversy.
My friend cited a John Muir, romanticized definition of the noun, ‘saunterer’, sharing this quote from Muir:
“Hiking – I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike! Do you know the origin of the word ‘saunter’? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre,’ to the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.”
Was Muir creating his own, flowery definition for the noun, ‘saunterer’? Perhaps. When I dug in a bit to learn more, it seems the more accepted definition of the verb ‘saunter’ leans toward leisurely ambling…a less divine interpretation but I prefer the Holy Land and ‘sainted ground’ imagery offered by Muir.
A quick peek at one of my favorite etymology resources revealed this exchange about the Muir quote and his assertion about the origin of the word ‘saunter’, de-bunking his claim:
Q: Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply ‘A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.
A: The quotation goes back to Albert Palmer, (1911), who reports that Muir said it to him in a conversation they were having about hiking. Palmer withholds judgment about “whether the derivation just given is scientific or fanciful”—but Merriam-Webster seems inclined to view it as the latter. From Merriam-Webster’s Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003):
saunter vi {prob. fr. ME santren to muse} (ca. 1667) : to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner : STROLL
I know I’m biased because of my affinity for a nature-based self-care therapy known as shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing”. Ground beneath my feet, nature sounds, trees and a gentle arc of elevation in view…water sounds…all the goodness that comes from natural wonders? Soul work. Characterizing Muir’s thoughts as ‘fanciful’? I’m okay with that…I’m sooo okay with that.
Muir felt the holiness of hiking…or sauntering. The linguists and etymologists might be technically correct about the origin and meaning of the word, but I’ll stand by Muir’s take. Move through nature reverently. Yes…and yes.
Vicki 💗
Victoria Ponders 
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