vespera Latin · revision 33194

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *ue-k(w)sp-er-o-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vespera''' ''f'' (genitive vesperae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a feminine form [[der|la|vesper|t=evening]].^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) Lewis & Short equate it with [[grc|ἑσπέρα|tr=hespéra|t=evening]].^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan traces [[m|la|vesper]] to [[itc-pro|*we(k)spero-]] and [[ine-pro|*ue-k(w)sp-er-o-|t=evening]], a compound of an element ⟨*ue-⟩ with a word for night, cognate with [[grc|ἕσπερος|tr=hésperos|t=evening]], [[lt|vãkaras|t=evening]] and [[cy|ucher|t=evening]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it, in ''prima vespera'', “at early evening”, in the ''Curculio''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==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.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy has tablets hung up at early evening, Suetonius ''a mane usque ad vesperam'', “from morning till evening”, and Tacitus evening coming on.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The ablative ''vesperā'' is used as an adverb, “in the evening”, in Pliny the Elder, and he also uses the word for the West.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, ''prima vespera''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, ''ad vesperam''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, at early evening.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, ''vesperā'' “in the evening”, and of the West.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|evening|alt=Evening]], [[m|en|eventide]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(ablative ''vesperā'', as adverb)'' In the evening.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The [[m|en|west|alt=West]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vesper]]

+ * [[vespertīnus]]

+ * [[vesperāscō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}