Many English words are rooted in the classics, but this verb is a pure Americanism. A trend in the 1800s involved creating words that sound as if they could be (but aren’t actually) from Latin or Greek. The slang term “absquatulate” was created as a combination of “abscond,” “squat,” and “perambulate.” When you break it down, you’ll recognize that someone is picking up and running away quickly with their loot. “Absquatulate” came out of this period, as did the verbs “bloviate” (“to speak long-windedly and pompously”) and “discombobulate” (“to confuse”).