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.
4. A vesper bat.

   Almost all vespers are insect catchers.

Derived terms

• vesper mouse
• vesper sparrow
• vespertide

Adjective

vesper (not comparable)

1. (poetic) Evening.
   • 1908, James Ryder Randall, “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

Catalan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bəsˈpe]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [vəsˈpe]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [vesˈpeɾ]

Noun

vesper m (plural vespers)

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

Related terms

• vespa

Latin

Etymology

PIE word
*wek(ʷ)speros

From Proto-Italic *wesperos, 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]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈves.per/, [ˈvɛsper]

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

• vesperāscit
• vesperna
• vespertīliō
• vespertīnus
• vesperūgō
• vesperus

Related terms

• vespera

Descendants

• Dalmatian: viaspro
• → Esperanto: vespero
• Piedmontese: vespr, vésper
• Lombard: vèsper
• Italian: vespro
• Sicilian: vèspiru
• Old French: vespre, vespree
  • Middle French: vespre
    • French: vêpre
  • Norman: vêpe
  • Walloon: vesprêye
  • → English: vesper
  • ⇒ Old French: vespres (oblique plural)
    • French: vêpres
    • → Middle English: vespers, vespres
      • English: vespers
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: vespre
• Old Galician-Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: vésper
• → 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.

Swedish

Noun

vesper c

1. (Christianity) a vespers, a Vespers (evening service)
2. a vesper (evening hymn)

Declension

Declension of vesper
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	vesper	vespern	vesprar	vesprarna
Genitive	vespers	vesperns	vesprars	vesprarnas

See also

• tidegärd

References

• vesper in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• vesper in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• vesper in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)