sweven

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English swefn (“sleep, dream, vision”), from Proto-Germanic *swifnan, *swifnaz (“sleep”), from Proto-Indo-European *swépnos, *súpnos (“dream”), from Proto-Indo-European *swep- (“to sleep”). Cognate with Dutch suf (“drowsy”), Middle High German swēb (“sleep”), Danish søvn (“sleep”), Latin somnus (“sleep, slumber, drowsiness”), Sanskrit स्वप्न (svápna), Ancient Greek ὕπνος (hupnos).

Noun

sweven (plural swevens)

1. (archaic) A dream.
   • 1885, Sir Richard Burton (trans.), The Thousand Nights and One Night:

     [The queen] went in to the Sultan and assured him that their daughter had suffered during all her wedding-night from swevens and nightmare.

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I.13:

     Alle that herd of the sweuen said, it was a token of grete batayll.

2. (archaic) A vision.

   And then she said: Sir, hast thou seen the sweven that I have seen? — The Golden Legend

Anagrams

• venews