Etymologically
Log in

pervigil

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word pervigil

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
43 BC–18 AD, Ovid
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*u̯eǵ-l-i-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vigil
Latin vigilia
French veille
Latin pervigil

Forms

pervigil (genitive pervigilis); third-declension one-termination adjective[1] Apuleius has a feminine nominative pervigilis.[1][2]

Etymology

The OLD takes it as from Latin per- (“thoroughly”) + vigil (“awake, watchful”),[1] while the TLL explains it as a back-formation from pervigilō (“to stay awake all night”).[3] De Vaan traces vigil to Proto-Italic *wegli- and Proto-Indo-European *u̯eǵ-l-i- (“strong”), from the root of vigeō (“to thrive”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Ovid,[5] who in the Metamorphoses has the ever-watchful dragon put to sleep with herbs.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it is poetic and post-Augustan.[2] It is keeping watch all night or all the time, and Statius uses it of a fire that is never let go out.[1] It is also sleepless all night, as Ovid's daughter of Cinyras burning with love, and of things lasting the whole night, as Seneca's night given to Bacchus.[1] Pliny the Younger pairs it with insomnis “sleepless”.[2] In Medieval Latin it is used figuratively, “vigilant”.[6] Stelten gives “very or ever watchful”.[7]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a watchful dragon.[1][2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of a night-long festival.[1][5]
  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius, of an undying fire.[1][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Keeping watch all night or always, ever watchful, vigilant.[1][2][7][6]
  2. Awake or sleepless all night; lasting all night.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Pervigil.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pervigil. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·