Etymologically
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pervigilo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈwɪ.ɡɪ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈviː.d͡ʒi.lo][1]

Forms

pervigilō (present infinitive pervigilāre, perfect active pervigilāvī, supine pervigilātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + vigilō (“to stay awake”).[2][3] De Vaan lists it under vigeō, with vigil (“watchman; awake”), which he traces to Proto-Italic *wegli- and Proto-Indo-European *u̯eǵ-l-i- (“strong”), comparing Sanskrit वाज (vā́ja-, “contest, reward”) and Old High German wahhēn (“to be awake”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] in whose Amphitruo someone has stayed awake three nights running, and in whose Curculio Phaedromus is asked whether he has vowed an all-night vigil to Venus.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It is to stay awake all night or for a whole period, and with an object to spend a night awake, as in Cicero.[2][5] It is also to keep watch all night or continuously: Livy says soldiers escaped a trick by standing and watching under arms day and night.[2] From Plautus on it is used of a religious vigil.[2] Martial plays on the verb: to stay awake is light, to stay awake all night is heavy.[5] Church Latin glosses it to keep close watch, keep vigil.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sleepless nights and of a vigil to Venus.[2][5][4][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a night spent awake.[5][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of watch kept under arms.[2][7]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial on waking and watching.[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stay awake all night or for a whole period; to spend (a night) awake.[2][5][1]
  2. To keep watch all night or continuously.[2][1][6]
  3. To keep a religious vigil.[2][1][6]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de