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Origin and history of watch

watch(v.)

Middle English wacchen, from Old English wæccan "keep watch, be awake," from Proto-Germanic *wakjan, from PIE root *weg- "to be strong, be lively." Essentially the same word as Old English wacian "be or remain awake" (see wake (v.)); perhaps a Northumbrian form of it.

The meaning "be vigilant" is from c. 1200. That of "to guard (someone or some place), stand guard" is late 14c. The sense of "to observe, keep under observance" is mid-15c. To watch out "be on one's guard" is by 1845, U.S. colloquial. Watch it! as a warning is attested by 1916. Related: Watched; watching.

watch(n.)

Middle English wacche, from Old English wæcce "a watching, state of being or remaining awake, wakefulness;" also "act or practice of refraining from sleep for devotional or penitential purposes;" from wæccan "keep watch, be awake," from Proto-Germanic *wakjan, from PIE root *weg- "to be strong, be lively."

The meaning "small timepiece" is from 1580s, developing from that of "a clock to wake up sleepers" (mid-15c.).

From c. 1200 as "one of the periods into which the night is divided," in reference to ancient times translating Latin vigilia, Greek phylakē, Hebrew ashmoreth. From mid-13c. as "a shift of guard duty; an assignment as municipal watchman;" late 13c. as "person or group obligated to patrol a town (especially at night) to keep order, etc."

Also in Middle English, "the practice of remaining awake at night for purposes of debauchery and dissipation;" hence wacches of wodnesse "late-night revels and debauchery."

The alliterative combination watch-and-ward for the old custom of keeping order in cities and towns preserves the distinction of watch for night-time municipal patrols and ward (n.) for guarding by day; in combination, they mean "continuous vigilance."

The military sense of "military guard, sentinel" is from late 14c. Also in early 18c. as a designation of certain irregular troops in the Scottish Highlands.

The general sense of "careful observation, watchfulness, vigilance" is from late 14c.; to keep watch is from late 14c. The meaning "period of time in which a division of a ship's crew remains on deck" is from 1580s.

The Hebrews divided the night into three watches, the Greeks usually into four (sometimes five), the Romans (followed by the Jews in New Testament times) into four. [OED]

On þis niht beð fowuer niht wecches: Biforen euen þe bilimpeð to children; Mid-niht ðe bilimpeð to frumberdlinges; hanecrau þe bilimpeð þowuene men; morgewile to alde men. [Trinity Homilies, c. 1200]

Entries linking to watch

wake(v.)

"become awake," a Middle English merger of Old English *wacan "become awake, arise, be born, originate," and Old English wacian "be or remain awake," from Proto-Germanic *wakojanan (source also of Old Saxon wakon, Old Norse vaka, Danish vaage, Old Frisian waka, Dutch waken, Old High German wahhen, German wachen "to be awake," Gothic wakan "to watch"), from PIE root *weg- "to be strong, be lively."

The causative sense of "rouse from sleep" is attested from c. 1300. It has past tense woke, rarely waked (and that usually in the transitive sense) and past participle waked, rarely woke or woken. Related: Waking. Wakeman (c. 1200), which survives as a surname, was Middle English for "watchman."

Guides for using awake, awaken, wake, waken, distilled from those in Fowler (1926) and Century Dictionary (1891):

1. Wake is the ordinary working verb; it alone has the sense "be or remain awake" (chiefly in waking).

2. Awake and awaken are chiefly used in figurative or transferred applications (A rude awakening).

3. Waken and awaken tend to be restricted to the transitive sense, awake being preferred in the senses related to arousing from actual sleep.

4. In the passive, awaken and waken are preferred, perhaps owing to uncertainty about the past participle of forms of awake and wake. (The 2010s colloquial use of woke in relation to political and social awareness is an exception.)

5. Up is commonly used with wake, but rarely with the others.

ward(n.)

Middle English ward "keeping, care, safekeeping," also "control, rule, proper preservation," from Old English weard "a guarding, protection; watchman, sentry, keeper," from Proto-Germanic *wardaz "guard" (source also of Old Saxon ward, Old Norse vörðr, Old High German wart), from suffixed form of PIE root *wer- (3) "perceive, watch out for." A doublet of guard (n.); for the consonant see gu-. Paired with watch (n.) from late 14c. Related: Wardship.

The meaning "minor under control of a guardian" is from early 15c. In reference to administrative districts of a town or city from late 14c., at first with a notion of guardianship, "a division of the people under a particular leader or guardian." Of hospital divisions from 1749.

The political ward-heeler is by 1873, American English, from heeler "loafer, one on the lookout for shady work" (1870s).