wake English · revision 3366

+ English has two main words spelled ''wake'': “to stop sleeping”, with the noun “a vigil”, which are native words, and the track left by a ship, which is probably from Scandinavian.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /weɪk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|stop sleeping; vigil}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1000|origins=ine-pro *weg-}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The verb is [[inh|enm|waken]],^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|wacian|t=to be or remain awake]], merged in Middle English with [[m|ang|*wacan|t=to become awake, arise, be born]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*wakōjaną]],^(Etymonline) from [[ine-pro|*weg-|t=to be strong, be lively]].^(Etymonline) It is cognate with Dutch waken, German wachen “to be awake” and Old Norse vaka.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The noun, a vigil, is from Old English -wacu, as in nihtwacu “night watch”, partly reinforced by [[non|vaka|t=vigil, eve before a feast]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It is related to [[watch]] and [[awake]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English, before 1000: “to remain awake” and “to become awake”.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) The causative “to rouse from sleep” is from about 1300^(Etymonline) (the 13th century in Hoad).^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The noun first meant wakefulness and a vigil kept as a religious observance, from about 1200.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Sitting up with a dead body before burial is from the early 15th century,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the custom largely survived in Ireland.^(Etymonline) The vigil of a church festival became an occasion for merrymaking from the 13th century,^(Hoad 1986) and the annual ''wake'' of an English parish, often degenerating into an all-night fair, from before 1225.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The past tense is ''woke'' or ''waked'', and the past participle ''woken'' or ''waked''.^(Etymonline)^(AHD) The 2010s use of ''woke'' for political and social awareness is an exception to Fowler's rules on these forms.^(Etymonline) Middle English wakeman “watchman” survives as a surname.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1000 – to remain awake; to awake.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – noun, a religious vigil.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1225 – a parish festival.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1300 – to rouse from sleep.^(Etymonline)

+ * early 15th century – a watch over a corpse.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To stop sleeping; to become awake, often with ''up''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To rouse from sleep; to [[awaken]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To stir or make alert: ''wake up to the danger''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To keep watch over a dead person.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A watch kept over the body of a dead person before burial, sometimes with a celebration.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An annual parish festival, also called ''wakes''.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[wakeful]]

+ * [[waken]]

+ * [[awake]]

+ * [[awaken]]

+ * [[wake-up call]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|track of a ship}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1547|origins=gem-pro *wakwō}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The track is of uncertain origin,^(Barnhart 1988) perhaps [[bor|gml|wake|t=hole in the ice]] or Middle Dutch wake,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from a Scandinavian source, [[non|vǫk|t=hole in the ice]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*wakwō]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It may instead have come directly from Scandinavian.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The sense perhaps developed from the track made by a vessel through ice.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The track left on the water by a moving ship: before 1547,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) the 1540s in Etymonline;^(Etymonline) Barnhart has the sense “track, trace” before 1500.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''In the wake of'' was used especially of ships following one another,^(Barnhart 1988) and the transferred and figurative sense, “following behind, as a result of”, is from 1806.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster's date for the noun is 1627.^(MWU 2024) In the dialects of East Anglia and the west of England a ''wake'' was also open water in the middle of ice.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1547 – a ship's track.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1806 – ''in the wake of'', figurative.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The track of waves left by a ship or other object moving through water.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''in the wake of'': following; as a result of.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wait]]

+ * [[watch]]

+ * [[vigil]]

+ * [[vigor]]

+ * [[humor]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Guides following Fowler say ''wake'' and ''waken'' are used both literally and figuratively, ''awaken'' and ''waken'' tend to be transitive, and ''up'' goes with ''wake'' but rarely with the others.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}