English
vigour
Vigour comes from Latin vigor ‘vigor, liveliness, activity’, and goes back to vigeō ‘thrive, flourish’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigeō‘thrive, flourish’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigor‘vigor, liveliness, activity’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vigour
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1667same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigeō‘thrive, flourish’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvigor‘vigor, liveliness, activity’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400vigour
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1667same form
Earliest quotation: 1667, John Milton, (please specify the page number): “But in the fruithful earth: there first receiv'd /…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- ‘to be lively’
wait, awake, surveillance, vegetation, vigilant, vigil, waken, reveille, waker, vajra, invigorate, 9 more
through Latin vigor ‘vigor, liveliness, activity’
Today it means
noun Active strength or force of body or mind; a capacity for exertion, physically, intellectually, or morally; energy.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin vigeō / vigour