Etymologically
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awake

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈweɪk/[1]

Etymology

The verb is a merger of two Middle English verbs: awaken, from Old English āwæcnan (“to awake, arise, originate”) (earlier onwæcnan), and awakien, from Old English āwacian (“to awaken, revive; arise”),[2][3][4] from ā- (“on”) and wacan or wacian, to wake, watch (see wake),[2][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *wak-, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to be strong, be lively”).[2][5] The adjective is a shortening of the old past participle awaken.[2][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cease to sleep: about 1000 in the OED, probably before 1200 as awaken in Barnhart.[8][5] The adjective, not asleep, is from before 1300.[8][5][2]

Semantic evolution

Both verbs were originally intransitive; the transitive rouse from sleep was usually expressed by Middle English awecchen until later Middle English.[2] In modern English the strong forms awoke and awoken tend to be kept for the intransitive sense and the weak awaked for the transitive, but this has never been complete.[2] The figurative adjective, vigilant or alert, is from 1618,[8] and awake to, fully conscious of, from 1813.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – to wake (verb).[8]
  • before 1300 – not asleep (adjective).[8]
  • 1618 – alert.[8]
  • 1813 – awake to.[8]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not asleep.
  2. (awake to) Aware of; alert to.

Verb

  1. To stop sleeping; to wake up.
  2. To make or become aware of something.
  3. To stir up, as a feeling or memory.

Word family

  • awakeable
  • wideawake
  • half-awake
  • unawake
  • reawake

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press