vegliare

Forms

vegliare (first-person singular present véglio, first-person singular past historic vegliài, past participle vegliàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms are Old Italian vegghiare, Tuscan, and Old Italian veggiare, northern.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan velhar (“to stay awake, keep watch”), the Old Occitan continuation of Latin vigilō (“to stay awake”).^{[5][6][1][7][8]} Nocentini and Devoto–Oli instead see it as the popular outcome of the Latin verb itself, with a northern type of development.^[9][10]

The Latin verb is derived from vigil (“awake; watchman”), which belongs with vigeō (“to be lively, thrive”) and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be strong, lively”); compare Old High German wahhēn (“to be awake”).^[11][1]

The native Tuscan form was vegghiare, from a Vulgar Latin parallel *vigulāre, based on the form vigul that inscriptions of the 3rd century show; the noun had the Tuscan form vegghia.^[5] Sabatini–Coletti derives vegghiare and the northern veggiare from *viglāre.^[3] Vegliare replaced the inherited form, and vigilare is the learned doublet.^[1]

The Latin verb gave French veiller, Catalan vetllar, Spanish velar, Portuguese vigiar, Sardinian bizare and Romanian veghea.^[9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word before 1250 and Nocentini to the first half of the 13th century;^[2][9][4] Giacomo da Lentini writes s'io viglio o sonno piglio “whether I wake or fall asleep”.^[2][9][4] DELI's first record is in Dante (1304–08), beside vegghiare, in the sense “to stay awake, not to sleep, especially at night”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to be watchful, attentive” is recorded for vegghiare in the 14th century (Bartolomeo da San Concordio, Passavanti) and for vegliare in 1673;^[5] “to take care of, protect” follows in 1845.^[5] The transitive “to sit up with and nurse someone” is in Daniello Bartoli as vegghiare (1663), and vegliare un morto is to keep a wake.^[5][2]

Old uses included “to be in force”, of laws and truces, as in Machiavelli's la tregua intra le parti vegghiava, and “to be in fashion” (1618).^[2][12][7] In 17th-century nautical language a buoy was said to vegliare when it showed at the surface.^[12] In Tuscany vegliare was to spend the evening in company, and the noun veglia grew from a vigil into an evening party;^[5][6] veglione, a great masked ball lasting all night, is recorded in 1839 as a Tuscan word.^[5][6]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – The verb is first recorded.^[2][9]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses vegliare and vegghiare.^[5]
• 14th century – Vegghiare “to be watchful” appears in Bartolomeo da San Concordio and Passavanti;^[5] vegghia and veglia are recorded.^[5]
• 1614 – Pantera records the nautical sense.^[12]
• 1663 – Daniello Bartoli uses vegghiare “to nurse at night”.^[5]
• 1673 – Paolo Segneri uses vegliare “to be vigilant”.^[5]
• 1839 – Veglione is recorded.^[5]
• 1845 – The sense “to protect” is recorded.^[5]
• 1908 – Panzini records the joking veglionissimo.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To stay awake, especially at night or in hours meant for sleep: non riusciva a dormire e vegliava ascoltando la pioggia.^[6][10][3]
2. (intransitive) To stay up to look after someone: la madre vegliò accanto al figlio febbricitante.^[6][10]
3. (intransitive, figurative) To watch over or protect (with su): un angelo veglia su di lei.^[6][10][3]
4. (intransitive, figurative) To be on one's guard, to stay alert.^[6][10][2]
5. (transitive) To sit up with and nurse someone, especially at night;^[6][10][2] vegliare un morto, to keep a wake.^[6][10][2]
6. (intransitive, archaic) Of laws and agreements, to be in force.^[6][10][2]
7. (intransitive, dated, regional) In rural Tuscany, to spend the evening talking and dancing with friends and family.^[6][2]

Word family

• veglia
• veglione
• veglionissimo
• svegliare
• sveglia
• sveglio
• risvegliare
• risveglio
• vegliante
• vegliatore

Related words

• sorvegliare
• vigilare
• vigile
• Old Occitan velhar
• Latin vigilō

Usage notes

The present is io véglio; the auxiliary is avere.^[2][1] The forms vegghiare (Tuscan) and veggiare (northern) are archaic.^[3][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 465
9. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 4001