Etymologically
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vigil

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈvɪd͡ʒəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vigile,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman vigile and Old French vigile, also vigille,[4][5][6] from Latin vigilia (“a watch, watchfulness, wakefulness”),[5][4][7] in Late Latin also the watch on the eve of a religious festival,[8] from vigil (“awake, alert”).[5][4][9] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1113–19, for a vigil, the eve of a holy day, the Vigils of the Office of the Dead and a watch or guard.[10] The Latin adjective is related to vigeō (“to be vigorous, lively”),[7][11] which Etymonline takes as its source, from Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to be strong, lively”);[4][2][9] Klein instead derives vigil from an assimilated *vegilis, from vegeō (“to be lively, active”).[3] The popular French form of the same word is veille.[3][12] From the Latin verb vigilō (“to keep watch”) come vigilant, reveille, surveillance and, through Spanish, vigilante.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The eve of a church festival, as an occasion of devotional watching: before 1250, in the Ancrene Riwle,[5] which Barnhart dates probably before 1200.[6] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-13th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the night before a religious festival, when people might stay awake in prayer.[13] From the late 14th century it also meant the devotional watching itself, or a night service,[5][6] and a wake for the dead, a sense Chaucer used and which died out in the early 17th century.[5][4] Wyclif used it for one of the four watches into which the Romans divided the night.[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as watch, or devotions performed in the usual hours of rest, quoting Milton.[14] The general sense, a period of staying awake for some purpose, is recorded from 1713, in Addison,[5] or by 1711 in Etymonline,[4] and vigil for sleeplessness from 1747, in Berkeley.[5] In the 20th century it also came to mean a quiet, stationary demonstration in support of a cause.[5]

Timeline

  • before 1250 – the eve of a church festival, in the Ancrene Riwle.[5] Barnhart dates it probably before 1200.[6]
  • c. 1374 – a wake for the dead, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (obsolete by 1606).[5][4]
  • c. 1380 – one of the four watches of the Roman night (obsolete).[5]
  • 1390 – devotional watching; a night service.[5] Barnhart dates it about 1395.[6]
  • 1484 – in the plural, prayers at a night service, especially for the dead, in Caxton.[5]
  • 1555 – to keep vigil.[5]
  • 1713 – a period of staying awake for some purpose, in Addison.[5]
  • 1747 – sleeplessness.[5]
  • 1898 – verb, to keep a vigil, in Hardy.[5]
  • 1956 – a quiet, stationary demonstration for a cause.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A period of staying awake, especially at night, to keep watch, guard or pray: The family kept a vigil at his hospital bed.[15][8][5]
  2. A quiet, stationary demonstration in support of a cause.[5]
  3. (Christianity) The eve of a major festival, observed with prayer and sometimes fasting; also a service held then.[15][8][5]
  4. Evening or night devotions or prayers, usually in the plural.[8][5]
  5. Sleeplessness; insomnia.[15][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins