somnus

See also: Somnus

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) 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

   • 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.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	somnus	somnī
Genitive	somnī	somnōrum
Dative	somnō	somnīs
Accusative	somnum	somnōs
Ablative	somnō	somnīs
Vocative	somne	somnī

Derived terms

• exsomnis
• somniculōsus
• somniculōsē
• somnifer
• somnificus
• somniger
• somnium
• somniālis
• somniāliter
• somniātor
• somniō
• somniōsus
• 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
  • Galician: sono
  • Portuguese: sono
• Romanian: somn
• Romansch: sien, sön
• Sardinian: sonnu
• Sicilian: sonnu
• Spanish: sueño
• Venetian: 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