English
vesper
Vesper comes from Old French vespre ‘evening’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷséps ‘night’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷséps1‘night’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wek⁽ʷ⁾speros1‘evening’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wesperos1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvesper2‘evening star’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vespre2‘evening’
- Englishearliest quotation 1797–1798vesper2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin vesper
- 2 Wiktionary, English vesper
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1797–1798, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In Seven Parts.: “In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, /…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷsépsWiktionary, Latin vesper‘night’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wek⁽ʷ⁾sperosWiktionary, Latin vesper‘evening’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wesperosWiktionary, Latin vesperreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvesperWiktionary, English vesper‘evening star’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vespreWiktionary, English vesper‘evening’
- Englishearliest quotation 1797–1798vesperWiktionary, English vesper. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1797–1798, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In Seven Parts.: “In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, /…”
The story
The martini name was coined by English novelist Ian Fleming in 1953 in his novel Casino Royale, where fictional secret agent James Bond concocts the recipe and names it after the character Vesper Lynd.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷséps ‘night’
through Proto-Indo-European *wek⁽ʷ⁾speros ‘evening’
Today it means
noun The bell that summons worshippers to vespers; the vesper-bell.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “vesper”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin vesper. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷséps / vesper