Legendary (1887) 293 (MED), Þis cas bi-feol in leinte on a satures-day at niȝt. The following are the definition of at night and earliest examples from OED:Īt night: at nightfall, in the evening or night during the hours of darkness. However, there is one earlier usage listed in OED.
One of the earliest usages of "at night" is from Chaucer's works. Chaucer's influence on English and vernacular literature 178 Except I be by Siluia in the night.Vnlesse I looke on Siluia in the day.Ģ.
Introducing the time at which an event happens: Of time, order, occasion, cause, object.Ģ9. In the end, at and in share a long history for the usages that we talk about and it is mentioned as below in OED (including the earliest example and some relevant examples):
In BrE, at the weekend is used, but in AmE on the weekend.Ī Communicative Grammar of English By Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik Speaking exceptions, one grammar book says the below for at under the title "exceptions: at, on and by":Īt can be used for periods identified vaguely, as in a t that time, at breakfast time, at night also for short holiday periods ( at Christmas, at Easter). Then, the question can be easily changed to "why not at morning but in the morning" because it seems like times within the day generally take at ( at noon, at 5:00, at dawn, at dinner, at night), except the ones that take in with the definite article the ( in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon). This is the main reason of the question because the preposition in is used for time periods. But morning, afternoon and evening represent a period of time during the daytime where activities were going on. It represents the dark hours and the late time of the day. In olden times, when the time expression "at night" was originated, night might have been thought as a point of time in the day because there wasn't any activity going on and people were sleeping that time unlike daytime. The origin of "at night" to indicate a point of time and the usage of prepositions "in" and"at" The bottom line is "it's idiomatic" as mentioned but I can offer the below rationale:ġ.
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