Where does “vigilance” come from?
Vigilance comes from Middle French vigilance, from Latin vigilantia, a noun formation with the suffix -ia (from Ancient Greek -ία) added to Latin vigil, meaning watchful, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European weǵ-.
vigilance (English): Alert watchfulness; Close and continuous...
Definitions
- Alert watchfulness; Close and continuous...
Ancestry of “vigilance”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | vigilance | — |
| 2 | Latin | vigilantia | vigilance, alertness; wakefulness |
| 3 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 4 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |