Desultory - Theatre Etymology - Part 30

If somebody is desultory, that means that they do not have a plan or they are jumping around from subject to subject. Today, it is more likely that a person would be called scatterbrained. Desultory, however, can also be applied to things like lessons, meetings, papers, or other tangible or intangible items. They may not have a definite plan. They may not be connected with the main subject or they ay be disappointing in a performance, consistency, progress, or quality.

While desultory is a great word to be used rather than calling a person scatterbrained, that does not cover the origin of the word. The word desultory originates in the theatre. It goes all the way back to the 1570s or 1580s.

The Latin word dēsultōrius was used to mean pertaining to a dēsultor (a circus rider who jumps from one horse to another). This is equivalent to dēsul-, which is a variant stem of dēsilīre meaning to jump down (dē- de- + -silīre, combining form of salīre to leap) plus -tōrius -tory. -Tory is a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin. It could also form adjectival derivatives directly from verbs (obligatory; transitory).

Some sources say that when a rider jumped from horse to horse, they were galloping. It is the idea of jumping from one horse to another was later applied to jumping from one idea to another. Some words with related etymologies are somersault, sally, and result.

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