Rogue

Originally meaning an idle vagrant or vagabond, rogue first appears in mid-sixteenth-century guides to underground or criminal slang. These included John Awdelay’s Fraternitye of Vacabondes (1561) and Thomas Harman’s Caueat or Warening for Commen Cursetors Vulgarely Called Vagabones (1567). Rogue is possibly related to roger , recorded from 1540, meaning “a begging vagrant claiming to be a poor scholar.” The early emphasis on being a vagrant yielded the verb to rogue , meaning to wander about idly, and the compound wild rogue for someone with no fixed abode. The general sense of an unprincipled person or rascal was soon established, and has remained ever since. Although the term is obviously critical, it was also used as a term of endearment by Shakespeare and subsequent dramatists, the earliest instance being “Ah, you sweet little rogue you!” (1597, Henry IV Part II , II iv 233). This weakened sense is still current in phrases like “a likeable rogue” or “you old rogue!” suggesting grudging acceptance or even approval.