vespera

Forms

vespera f (genitive vesperae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a feminine form from Latin vesper (“evening”).^[1][2] Lewis & Short equate it with Ancient Greek ἑσπέρα (hespéra, “evening”).^[3] De Vaan traces vesper to Proto-Italic *we(k)spero- and Proto-Indo-European *ue-k(w)sp-er-o- (“evening”), a compound of an element ⟨*ue-⟩ with a word for night, cognate with Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos, “evening”), Lithuanian vãkaras (“evening”) and Welsh ucher (“evening”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it, in prima vespera, “at early evening”, in the Curculio.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it is much commoner than vesper and used only in the singular, and that Cicero has it only in the phrase ad vesperam, “towards evening”, as when he says that if they hurry they will catch up by evening.^[3] Livy has tablets hung up at early evening, Suetonius a mane usque ad vesperam, “from morning till evening”, and Tacitus evening coming on.^[3] The ablative vesperā is used as an adverb, “in the evening”, in Pliny the Elder, and he also uses the word for the West.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, prima vespera.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, ad vesperam.^[3][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, at early evening.^[3][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, vesperā “in the evening”, and of the West.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Evening, eventide.^[3][1]
2. (ablative vesperā, as adverb) In the evening.^[3]
3. The West.^[3]

Related words

• vesper
• vespertīnus
• vesperāscō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de