'Traverse' is Latin for 'turned across' — from 'trans-' + 'vertere.' Kin to 'reverse' and 'universe.'
To travel across or through; a passage or route across something.
From Old French 'traverser' (to cross, to go across, to pass through), from Late Latin 'trāversāre,' from Latin 'trānsversus' (lying across, crosswise), composed of 'trāns-' (across, through, from PIE *terh₂- meaning to cross over) + 'versus' (turned), past participle of 'vertere' (to turn, from PIE *wert- meaning to turn or wind). The literal Latin meaning is 'turned across' — oriented at a right angle. 'Trānsversus' generated both 'traverse' (the verb
The word 'travesty' is a cousin of 'traverse' — it comes from Italian 'travestire' (to disguise, literally to cross-dress), from 'tra-' (across, from Latin 'trans-') + 'vestire' (to dress). A travesty was originally a literary burlesque, a work 'dressed up' in ridiculous clothing. The connection to 'traverse' lies in the shared Latin prefix 'trans-' (across), though the words have diverged completely