1570s, "overtaken by darkness," past-participle adjective from obsolete verb benight (q.v.). Little used in the literal sense, usually it means "in intellectual or moral darkness" (1630s).
Entries linking to benighted
benight v.
1550s, "to be overtaken by darkness;" 1630s, "to involve with darkness," from be- + night. Figurative sense of "to involve in moral or intellectual darkness" is from c. 1600, and the word is rarely used now except in the form of the figurative past-participle adjective benighted.