the.com/wayfaring
Travel before it learned to brag, when arriving wasn't the point at all
means Traveling on foot or by simple means, especially as a journeying way of life or over a long road.
from A compound as plain as the act it describes: Old English 'weg' (way, road) joined to 'faran' (to go, to travel) — that same 'faran' is the root of 'fare,' 'farewell,' and 'thoroughfare,' all cousins in the old Germanic family of going. So a 'wayfarer' is, quite literally, a way-goer, and 'wayfaring' the going itself. The botanical 'wayfaring tree' got its name centuries later for the simple reason that it grew where travelers passed — roadside company for anyone faring along.
- old roots
- From Old English weg plus faran, the way-going
- the tree
- Wayfaring-tree got its name from roadside hedgerows
- slow mode
- Implies travel on foot, not flying over it
- poetic kin
- Wayfaring stranger haunts American folk ballads
john bunyan's pilgrim — protagonist in 'the pilgrim's progress' (1678), travels from city of destruction to celestial city
hannibal's alpine crossing — carthaginian general crossed alps with elephants in 218 bce during second punic war
marco polo's silk road — venetian merchant traveled overland from venice to cathay (1271-1295)