Aube

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The first light of dawn, heralding the beginning of a new day
2. The period of twilight before the sun rises, painting the sky in shades of light
3. A serene moment of illumination that signifies the approach of daybreak

Etymology: The word "aube" is an obsolete English spelling of "alb," the long white linen robe worn by clergy at Mass. It is what it sounds like in its ancestry: a Latin word for whiteness, carried into English through Old French and Late Latin. The Latin source is "alba," the feminine form of "albus," meaning "white," so the robe was named for its colour before anything else about it. The sense of "early morning light" is a separate and much later development. Its use for dawn is what makes the word unusual, since it rests on the same root as the church vestment. Because the spelling "aube" is an older form of the vestment name, the two meanings share a history rather than a sound, and the dawn sense belongs to the poetic extension of "white" into the first light of day.

Synonyms: alb, robe, gown