'Pilgrim' comes from Latin 'peregrinus' ('foreigner, wanderer'), literally 'one beyond the fields,' via Old French 'pelerin.'
A person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons; more broadly, any traveller or wanderer.
From Old French 'pelerin' (Modern French 'pèlerin'), from Latin 'peregrinus' ('foreigner, stranger, one from abroad'), from 'pereger' ('abroad'), a compound of 'per' ('through, beyond') and 'ager' ('field, land, territory'). A pilgrim was literally someone 'beyond the fields' — a person away from their own land. The shift from 'per-' to 'pil-' reflects a common Latin sound change, and the intrusive '-gr-' in the English form was influenced by the original Latin 'peregrinus.' Key roots: per (Latin: "through
The peregrine falcon gets its name from the same Latin root — 'peregrinus' means 'wandering' or 'foreign,' and the bird was called the 'peregrine' because falconers trapped it during its migration rather than taking it from the nest. The same root also gives us San Pellegrino, the Italian sparkling water named after a town dedicated to a pilgrim saint.