dream

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[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From Middle English dreem, possibly from Old English drēam (“music, mirth, joy”), from Proto-Germanic *draumaz (“dream, ghost, deception”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhrAugh- (“to deceive”); meaning influenced in Middle English by Old Norse draumr (“dream”), from same Proto-Germanic root. Cognate to West Frisian dream (“dream”), Dutch droom (“dream”), German Traum (“dream”), Swedish dröm (“dream”).

The derivation from Old English drēam is controversial, since the word itself is only attested in writing in its meaning of “joy, mirth, musical sound”. Possibly there was a separate word drēam meaning “images seen while sleeping”, which was avoided in literature due to potential confusion with “joy” sense, which would account for the common definition in the other Germanic languages, or the derivation may indeed simply be a strange progression from “mirth, joy, musical sound”.[1]

Attested words for “sleeping vision” in Old English were mǣting (Middle English mæte, mēte), from unclear source, and swefn (Modern English sweven, now obsolete), from Proto-Germanic *swefnan, from Proto-Indo-European *swepno-, *swep-; compare Ancient Greek ὕπνος (hypnos, “sleep”).

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Noun

dream (plural dreams)

  1. imaginary events seen in the mind while sleeping
  2. A hope or wish

[edit] Synonyms

  • (events experienced whilst asleep): sweven (archaic)

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] See also

[edit] Translations

Imaginary events seen while sleeping
Hope or wish

[edit] Verb

dream (third-person singular simple present dreams, present participle dreaming, simple past and past participle dreamed or dreamt)

  1. (intransitive) To see imaginary events in one's mind while sleeping
  2. (intransitive) To hope, to wish
  3. (intransitive) To daydream
    Stop dreaming and get back to work.
  4. (transitive) to create an imaginary experience (usually when asleep)
    I dreamed a vivid dream last night.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Usage notes

  • "Dreamt" is less common in both US and UK English in current usage, though somewhat more prevalent in the UK than in the US.

[edit] Translations

see imaginary events while sleeping
to hope, to wish
to daydream
to create an imaginary experience
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] References

  1. ^ “dream” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001.

[edit] External links

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Old English

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdræːam/

[edit] Etymology

Proto-Germanic *draumaz, whence also Old Saxon drōm (“joy, music, dream”), Old High German troum, Old Norse draumr.

[edit] Noun

drēam m. (nominative plural drēamas)

  1. joy, pleasure, ecstasy
    Ðær biþ drincendra dream se micla: there is the great joy of drinkers.
  2. music, song
    Iohannes gehyrde swylce bymena dream: John heard, as it were, the sound of trumpets.

[edit] West Frisian

[edit] Noun

dream c. (plural dreamen)

  1. dream, daydream
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