vesper

See also: Vesper and Vësper

English

Etymology

From Old French vespre, from Latin vesper (“evening star”)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛspɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛspə/

Noun

vesper (plural vespers)

1. The bell that summons worshipers to vespers; the vesper-bell
2. (poetic) The evening.
3. A vesper martini.

Adjective

vesper (not comparable)

1. (poetic) Evening.
   • 1908, Randall, James Ryder, “On the Rampart”, in Maryland, my Maryland, and other poems, Baltimore, Md.; New York: John Murphy Company, page 28:

     On Sumter’s rampart, that sweet eve, / I heard the vesper bugle play […]

Anagrams

• perves, preves

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Catalan

Etymology

vespa +‎ -er. Compare Occitan vespièr, French guêpier, Portuguese vespeiro, Spanish avispero, Romanian viespar, Italian vespaio, Friulian gjespâr.

Noun

vesper m (plural vespers)

1. wasp nest
2. wasp group
3. (colloquial) complicated mess

Related terms

• vespa

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *we(k)speros, from Proto-Indo-European *wek(ʷ)speros. Cognates include Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos), Old Church Slavonic вєчєръ (večerŭ) and Old Armenian գիշեր (gišer).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯es.per/, [ˈu̯ɛs̠pɛr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈves.per/, [ˈvɛspɛr]

Noun

vesper m (variously declined, genitive vesperī or vesperis); second declension, third declension

1. the evening or vespers
2. supper, dinner (evening meal)
3. (by extension) the evening star
4. (by extension) the West

Declension

• This noun can be declined in two paradigms; in classical Latin prose, only the singular forms were used (plural forms are found post-Classically), and the second declension forms prevailed except for the ablative. The forms vespere and vesperī were both used to mean "in the evening".

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er) or third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vesper	vesperī vesperēs
Genitive	vesperī vesperis	vesperōrum vesperum
Dative	vesperō vesperī	vesperīs vesperibus
Accusative	vesperum vesperem	vesperōs vesperēs
Ablative	vespere vesperō	vesperīs vesperibus
Vocative	vesper	vesperī vesperēs

Derived terms

• vesperāscō
• vesperna
• vespertīliō
• vespertīnus
• vesperūgō

Related terms

• vespera

Descendants

• Dalmatian: viaspro
• Piedmontese: vespr, vésper
• Lombard: vèsper
• Italian: vespro
• Old French: vespre, vespree
  • Middle French: vespre
    • French: vêpre
  • Norman: vêpe
  • → English: vesper
  • ⇒ Old French: vespres (oblique plural)
    • French: vêpres
    • → Middle English: vespers, vespres
      • English: vespers
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: vespre
• Old Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: vésper
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: véspero
• → Albanian: dhespër (or from Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos))
• → Old Irish: fescor
  • Irish: feascar
  • Manx: fastyr
  • Scottish Gaelic: feasgar
• → Welsh: gosber

References

• vesper in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vesper in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• vesper in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette