adormir

Forms

adormir (first-person singular present aduermo, first-person singular preterite adormí, past participle adormido)^[1] Old Spanish had the preterite adurmió and the spelling adormjr; the stem vowel becomes ue in the present, as in aduermo, aduerma.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin addormiō (“to fall asleep”), formed from ad (“to”) and dormiō (“to sleep”).^[5][1][6] The Latin verb is found in Caelius Aurelianus.^[1][6] The same verb is Portuguese adormir, Catalan adormir, Old French adormir, Italian addormire and Romanian adormi.^[7][8][1] Nascentes considers the Portuguese verb semi-learned.^[9]

The simple Latin verb goes back to Proto-Italic *dormiō and Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to sleep”).^[10][1] Its cognates are дрѣмати (drěmati, “to doze”) and δαρθάνω (darthánō, “to fall asleep”).^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has it in the sense “to fall asleep”: un sueño·l' priso dulce, tan bien se adurmió “a sweet sleep came over him, so soundly did he fall asleep”.^[3][2] A Mozarabic kharja of the 11th or 12th century already has adormes.^[11][2]

Semantic evolution

The Historical Dictionary notes that until the mid-17th century adormir alternated with dormir in every use, and that from the 18th century on it is mostly literary, nearly always in verse.^[2] Alfonso X's prose uses it for “to put to sleep”, “to begin to fall asleep” and “to grow numb”.^[12] The Academy called the verb obsolete from 1770 to 1832, but it has been listed without that label since.^[2][13] In the Americas it lived on in rural speech: Henríquez Ureña recorded it in Mexico as a mere doublet of dormir, and in Cuba it was called common among ordinary people.^[2] The name of the opium poppy, adormidera, comes from this verb, because of the plant's narcotic power.^[14]

Timeline

• 11th–12th century – adormes in a Mozarabic kharja.^[11][2]
• c. 1140 – se adurmió in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[3][2]
• c. 1236 – Berceo's Vida de Santo Domingo has adurmióse un poco.^[3][2]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses it for “to put to sleep”.^[12]
• c. 1560 – first record of adormidera “opium poppy”.^[15]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades treats it as equal to adormecer in every sense.^[4]
• 1770 – the Academy labels it obsolete.^[13][2]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin addormire.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To make drowsy, to put to sleep; to grow drowsy (adormecer).^[5][1][17]
2. (reflexive) To fall asleep.^[5][17]

Word family

• adormidera

Related words

• dormir
• adormecer
• Latin addormio
• Portuguese adormir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. adormir
3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. adormir
4. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 92
5. ^ a b c Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. adormir
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. addormio
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 135
9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. adormir
10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 518
12. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. adormir
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 77
14. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. adormidera
15. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dormir
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 23
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. adormir