# 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: /ˈsom.nus/, [ˈs̠ɔmnʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈsom.nus/, [ˈsɔmnus]

### Noun

somnus m (genitive somnī); second declension
* 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 somnōsAnd now, when damp night will induce peaceful slumbers
* drowsiness, idleness, inactivity, laziness, sloth
* (figuratively) death
    Synonyms: mors, fūnus, fātum, exitus, interitus, perniciēs, fīnis, sopor

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

#### 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, 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
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 573-4