Scamper across an open field, and then, while catching your breath, ponder this:
scamper and
campestral both ultimately derive from the Latin noun
campus, meaning "field" or "plain." Latin
campester is the adjective that means "pertaining to a campus." In ancient Rome, a campus was a place for games, athletic practice, and military drills.
Scamper probably started with a military association as well (it is assumed to have evolved from an unattested
Vulgar Latin verb,
excampare, meaning "to decamp"). In English,
campestral took on an exclusively rural aspect upon its introduction in the late 17th century, while
campus, you might say, became mainly academic.
