somnus

See also: Somnus

Latin

Alternative forms

• sompnus (medieval)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *swepnos, from Proto-Indo-European *swépnos, from the root *swep- (“to sleep”) (compare Lithuanian sãpnas, Sanskrit स्वप्न (svapna)).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈsom.nus/, [ˈs̠ɔmnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsom.nus/, [ˈsɔmnus]

Noun

somnus m (genitive somnī); second declension

1. sleep, slumber

   Synonym: sopor

   per somnum/somnos ― sleeping

   in somnis/somno ― sleeping

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.525–527:

     Cum tacet omnis ager, pecudēs pictaeque volucrēs,
     quaeque lacūs lātē liquidōs, quaeque aspera dūmīs
     rūra tenent, somnō positae sub nocte silentī.

     When every field’s at rest, the beasts and colorful birds — both those who hold broad limpid lakes and rugged rustic thickets — are settled down to sleep beneath the quiet night.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.635:

     iamque ubi suādēbit placidōs nox hūmida somnōs

     And now, when damp night will induce peaceful slumbers

2. drowsiness, idleness, inactivity, laziness, sloth
3. (figuratively) death

   Synonyms: mors, fūnus, fātum, exitus, interitus, perniciēs, fīnis, sopor

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	somnus	somnī
genitive	somnī	somnōrum
dative	somnō	somnīs
accusative	somnum	somnōs
ablative	somnō	somnīs
vocative	somne	somnī

Derived terms

• exsomnis
• somniālis
• somniāliter
• somniātor
• somniculōsē
• somniculōsus
• somnifer
• somnificus
• somniger
• somniō
• somniōsus
• somnium
• somnulentia
• somnulentus

Related terms

• sōpiō
• sopor

Descendants

• Aromanian: somnu
• Asturian: sueñu
• Catalan: son
• Dalmatian: samno
• Franco-Provençal: sono
• French: sommeil, somme
• Friulian: sium
• Italian: sonno
• Ligurian: séunno
• Neapolitan: suonno
• Occitan: sòm
• Old Galician-Portuguese: sono, sopno
  • Galician: sono
  • Portuguese: sono
• Romanian: somn
• Romansch: sien, sön
• Sardinian: sonnu
• Sicilian: sonnu
• Spanish: sueño
• Venetan: sono
• Walloon: soumey

References

• “somnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “somnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "somnus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• somnus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to lay oneself down to slee: somno or quieti se tradere
    
  • to be unable to sleep: somnum capere non posse
    
  • I cannot sleep for anxiety: curae somnum mihi adimunt, dormire me non sinunt
    
  • I haven't had a wink of sleep: somnum oculis meis non vidi (Fam. 7. 30)
    
  • to fall fast asleep: artus somnus aliquem complectitur (Rep. 6. 10)
    
  • to be overcome by sleep: somno captum, oppressum esse
    
  • to awake: somno solvi
    
  • to rouse, wake some one: (e) somno excitare, dormientem excitare
    
  • in a dream: per somnum, in somnis
    
  • to see something in a dream: in somnis videre aliquid or speciem
    
  • I dreamed I saw..: in somnis visus (mihi) sum videre
    
  • to refresh oneself, minister to one's bodily wants: corpus curare (cibo, vino, somno)
    
• “somnus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “somnus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• Dizionario Latino, Olivetti