How did 'wakes' get that name?

greencavalier

A wake for a dead person - because everyone, or close relatives, would stay awake through the night with the deceased. May 29 03, 10:43 PM

curly

I'm sure I read on an Irish web site that the wake is very much these days a practise of Catholic people , but originaly was stolen from India . It is called a wake because the grieving relatives would stay 'Wake', or awake around the coffin all night as it lay in the front room of the family home. This was done to keep at bay evil spirits and the like before burial. May 29 03, 11:57 PM

Friar Tuck

WAKE - Meaning 'sitting up at night with a corpse' is late M.E., but the custom largely survived as an Irish activity. The noun is from O.E. -wacu (as in nihtwacu 'night watch'), related to {watch;} and partly from O.N. vaka 'vigil, eve before a feast,' related to vaka 'be awake.' Wakeman, which survives as a surname, was M.E. for 'watchman.' http://www.etymonline.com/w1etym.htm May 30 03, 8:15 AM

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