Matutinal

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or occurring in the early morning hours; active or happening at dawn or shortly after sunrise; characteristic of the morning time of day
2. Pertaining to things that take place in the morning; describing behavior, events, or natural phenomena that happen near the start of the day; linked to dawn activity or early daylight hours
3. Concerning the period just after sunrise; denoting a morning routine or natural inclination to be active early in the day; associated with dawn-related occurrences or habits

Etymology: The adjective "matutinal" traces back to a Roman goddess. Mātūta was the Roman goddess of dawn or morning, and the Latin adjective "mātūtinus" meant "of or occurring in the early morning." From it, Late Latin formed "mātūtīnālis," which took on a specialised religious sense: the Latin noun for the morning hymns and psalms sung in monasteries, the matins that gave the English word "matins" its name, shares this root, and the same Late Latin form also meant a morning hymn or a book of lauds. The word reached English by way of Middle French "matutinal," which kept the original sense of relating to the morning. Its second sense, active in the morning or waking early, was probably modelled on French "matinal," which carries a similar meaning. The root itself is an old Indo-European one connected with ripening and timeliness, so a word for the morning began as a word for the time when things came to be.

Synonyms: morning, early, dawn, auroral, matinal

Antonyms: nocturnal, evening, night, vespertine, crepuscular