pervigilium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pervigilium.

Noun

pervigilium (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, medicine, rare) Insomnia.
   • 1733, John Allen, Synopsis medicinæ: or, a summary view of the whole practice of physick:

     A Pervigilium is sometimes a primary Distemper, without any other evident Sickness causing it; yet so that some bear up under it, without any considerable Disorder […]

   • 1843, W. L. MacGregor, Practical Observations on the Principal Diseases Affecting the Health of the European and Native Soldiers in the North-western Provinces of India, page 44:

     Pervigilium, or want of sleep, is a most distressing and alarming symptom in fever, and appears to be the first link of that chain which includes delirium, coma, and effusion […] there is nothing more indicative of the severity of the disease than the inability to sleep.

Related terms

• vigil
• vigilant
• pervigilation

Latin

Etymology

pervigil (“always watchful”) +‎ -ium

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /per.u̯iˈɡi.li.um/, [pɛru̯ɪˈɡɪlʲiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /per.viˈd͡ʒi.li.um/, [perviˈd͡ʒiːlium]

Noun

pervigilium n (genitive pervigiliī or pervigilī); second declension

1. staying awake or sitting up all night
2. devotional watching, vigil

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pervigilium	pervigilia
Genitive	pervigiliī pervigilī1	pervigiliōrum
Dative	pervigiliō	pervigiliīs
Accusative	pervigilium	pervigilia
Ablative	pervigiliō	pervigiliīs
Vocative	pervigilium	pervigilia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

References

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