Vesperian

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Pertaining to or characteristic of evening prayers or the evening time
2. Connected with the period of evening, especially relating to devotional observances at this time
3. Describing anything associated with the evening hours or the religious services held then

Etymology: Vesperian is a learned English adjective, and the surprise is how little of it is old. It descends from Latin "vesper," meaning evening, which is also the source of "vespers," the evening prayer service of the Church. The Latin word reaches back to a Proto-Indo-European root for evening or the west, the direction of sunset, a link that does not explain the English word beyond showing where its sense comes from. The adjective is built from "vesper" plus the suffix "-ian," which forms adjectives meaning "belonging to" or "relating to." It was assembled in English from classical material rather than inherited or borrowed from a living tongue, so it reflects the scholarly habit of building descriptive words from Latin stems, most often used in technical or literary writing.