Etymograph

English

vigilant

Vigilant comes from Latin vigilans ‘vigilant, watchful, alert’, from vigilare ‘stay awake’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵ-1‘to be strong, lively, awake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵlis1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*weglis1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigil2‘awake’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigilare2‘stay awake’next step skipped: Latin vigilō
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigilans2‘vigilant, watchful, alert’present participle of vigilare
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentvigilant2uncertain
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1972vigilant2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vigil
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English vigilant
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1972, C. Pama: “von der LUTKE / Argent, a crane vigilant proper.…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵ-Wiktionary, Latin vigil‘to be strong, lively, awake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵlisWiktionary, Latin vigilreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*weglisWiktionary, Latin vigilreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigilWiktionary, English vigilant‘awake’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigilareWiktionary, English vigilant‘stay awake’next step skipped: Latin vigilō
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigilansWiktionary, English vigilant‘vigilant, watchful, alert’present participle of vigilare
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentvigilantWiktionary, English vigilantuncertain
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1972vigilantWiktionary, English vigilant. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1972, C. Pama: “von der LUTKE / Argent, a crane vigilant proper.…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- ‘to be strong, lively, awake’

wait, awake, vegetation, vigorous, vigour, waken, waker, vajra, invigorate, 10 more

through Latin vigil ‘awake’

reveille, 5 more

through Latin vigilare ‘stay awake’

surveillance

Today it means

adj Watchful, especially for danger or disorder; alert; wary.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vigilant”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin vigil. 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 *weǵ- / vigilant

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