vigilance

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French vigilance or directly borrowed from Latin vigilantia (“wakefulness, watchfulness”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from vigilāns, the present participle of vigilō (“to keep awake”),^[7][6][4] from vigil (“watchful, awake”), the source of vigil,^[5][4] which Etymonline derives from vigeō (“to be lively”) and Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to be strong, be lively”).^[5] Dictionary.com takes it as an alteration of the obsolete vigilancy, with -ance for -ancy;^[8] Etymonline dates vigilancy to the 1530s.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Watchfulness, alertness to danger: Merriam-Webster dates it to 1533,^[7] while the OED's first record is P. Levens's Manipulus Vocabulorum of 1570.^[2] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date it to the 1560s,^[5][8] and stress watchfulness during the hours of the night.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the sense of watchfulness against danger or the actions of others.^[2][7] In 1667 Milton used it in Paradise Lost for a guard or watch, a sense that did not last.^[2] From 1749 it also meant the state of being awake, and in medicine abnormal wakefulness, insomnia.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1533 – watchfulness, alertness.^[7] The OED's first record is from 1570.^[2]
• 1667 – a guard or watch, in Milton's Paradise Lost (obsolete).^[2]
• 1749 – wakefulness; in medicine, insomnia.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Close and careful watchfulness, especially for possible danger; being vigilant: The police urged the public to show vigilance.^[9][7][2]
2. Readiness to notice and respond, as of the senses or nerves to a stimulus.^[7]
3. In medicine, abnormal wakefulness; insomnia.^[9][2]

Word family

• hypervigilance
• vigilance committee

Related words

• vigilant
• vigil
• vigilante

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins