veiller

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vɛ.je/^[1]
• IPA: /ve.je/^[1]

Forms

veiller^[1] Old French veillier (about 1120), villier (1176–84); veiller from the late 12th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veillier, inherited from Latin vigilō (“to be awake; to be watchful; to tend”), through a contracted Vulgar Latin form.^[2][4][1][5] The Latin verb is derived from vigilia (“wakefulness, night watch”), the source of veille, and, from vigil (“awake, watchful”).^[4][3] The Petit Robert traces the adjective to vigeō (“to be strong, thrive”), from an Indo-European root meaning “to be strong, alert”, which also gave the Germanic verbs for waking, as in German wachen.^[6][7] It is a doublet of the learned vigiler.^[1]

Cognate with Romanian veghea, Old Occitan velhar, Catalan vetllar, Spanish velar and Portuguese vigiar.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Oxford Psalter (about 1120) veillier means to be awake, not to sleep during the time meant for sleep.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb meant especially to stand guard (about 1180) and also to wake up (about 1200).^[4] In 1210 it took the sense of staying constantly alert in order to act if needed, the source of veiller à, to see to something.^[2][4]

Transitively it meant to keep someone awake (1340), to sit up at night with a dead person (1409) or with a sick person (1465), and, from Montaigne (about 1590), to keep watch over someone or something.^[2][6] In France it now means not to go to bed, whereas in Quebec it is used for spending the evening with others (veiller chez des amis).^[4][1] In computing it means to put a device in standby mode.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Veillier “to be awake” in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• c. 1180 – “To stand guard”.^[4]
• 1210 – “To stay alert”, in Foulque de Candie.^[2]
• 1409 – To sit up with a dead person.^[2]
• 1465 – To sit up with a sick person.^[2]
• c. 1590 – Montaigne: to watch over.^[2]
• 1690 – Veiller “to spend the evening in company”.^[4][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stay up, stay awake during the time usually given to sleep: veiller jusqu'au jour.^[6][1]
2. To keep watch, be on guard; to be vigilant: la police veille.^[6][1]
3. Veiller à: to see to, look after: veiller à ce que….^[1][2]
4. Veiller sur: to watch over (someone).^[1]
5. (transitive) To sit up at night with (a sick person); to keep a wake over (a dead person).^[1][6]
6. (Quebec) To spend the evening out or with friends.^[1][4]
7. (computing) To put in standby mode.^[1]

Word family

• éveiller
• réveiller
• surveiller
• veille

Related words

• vigilant
• vigile
• Latin vigilō

Usage notes

The Grand Robert gives a second veiller, “to spend the evening in company”, a numbered entry of its own, derived from veille (1690); it has aged faster than veillée.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 435b
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert