dormir

Forms

dormir (first-person singular present duermo, first-person singular preterite dormí, past participle dormido)^[1] The stressed stem has ue (duermo, duerma) and some unstressed forms u (durmió, durmiendo), as the Autoridades already noted.^[2] Asturian has durmir, and Trás-os-Montes Portuguese drumir.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dormiō (“to sleep”); Old Spanish dormir has the same form.^[3][5][6][1]

The same Latin verb is Portuguese dormir, Catalan dormir, Occitan dormir, French dormir and Italian dormire.^[7][4] A form with metathesis, of the type ⟨dromir⟩, is found in dialects of northern Italy, France and Portugal.^[7]

The Latin verb goes back to *dormjō and Proto-Indo-European *drm-ie- (“to sleep”), from the root *drem-.^[8][1] Its cognates are Old Church Slavonic дрѣмати (drěmati, “to doze”) and Ancient Greek δαρθάνω (darthánō, “to fall asleep”).^[8][1] De Vaan notes that the same root also meant “to run” in other branches.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) has the proverb „Non duerme sin sospecha qui aver trae monedado” “He who carries coined money does not sleep without fear”.^[9][5] The first record known in its own copy is the Fuero of Cáceres (c. 1234–1275): a watchman who falls asleep on duty is to be shorn.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Covarrubias in 1611 gave the medical explanation of his time, vapours rising to the brain, and collected the phrases dormir a pierna tendida, dormir como un lirón, dormir con una mujer, dormir el vino “to sleep off wine” and no dormirse en las pajas “not to let a chance slip”.^[10] The Autoridades added the figurative sense “to neglect one's duty”.^[2] The Academy's 1884 dictionary has “to spend the night”, “to calm down” and dormir sobre a matter, “to take time to think it over”, and the transitive dormir al niño.^[11]

The DLE now also uses it of a spinning top that turns without moving, of a card left unused, and of a limb that goes numb.^[6] In Cuba and El Salvador dormir is to trick someone for gain, and in Bolivia it is to soak clothes or to marinate meat.^[6][12]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid.^[9][5]
• c. 1200 – first record of durmiente.^[5]
• c. 1234–1275 – the Fuero of Cáceres, the first record without a later copy.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's prose speaks of a stone that keeps its bearer from sleeping well.^[13]
• c. 1490 – first record of dormilón, and of dormidera for the opium poppy.^[5][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin dormio and dormito.^[14]
• 1517 – Puerto Rico, bedding for the natives to sleep on: the first record from the Americas.^[15]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records no dormirse en las pajas.^[10]
• 1884 – first record of duermevela.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sleep.^[6][1]
2. (intransitive) To spend the night somewhere: Dormimos en un hostal del puerto.^[6]
3. (intransitive, mostly pronominal) To be careless or slow in a matter: Si te duermes, perderás el tren.^[6]
4. (intransitive) Of a thing: to lie forgotten or put off.^[6]
5. (intransitive, also pronominal) Of something agitated: to calm down.^[6]
6. (intransitive) Of a spinning top: to spin fast without wobbling.^[6]
7. (intransitive, also pronominal) To take time to think a matter over.^[6]
8. (transitive) To put someone to sleep, also with an anaesthetic.^[6]
9. (transitive) To sleep through a nap or a bout of drunkenness: dormir la siesta, dormir la mona.^[6]
10. (pronominal) To fall asleep; of a limb, to go numb.^[6]
11. (transitive, Cuba, El Salvador) To trick someone for gain.^[6][12]

Word family

• adormidera
• adormecer
• dormilón
• durmiente
• dormida
• dormidera
• dormidor
• dormirlas
• duermevela

Related words

• dormición
• dormidero
• dormitar
• dormitivo
• dormitorio
• Latin dormiō

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include a duerme y vela “half asleep”.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 338
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 518
4. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. dormire
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. dormir
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. dormir
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ 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. dormir
10. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 691
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 400
12. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. dormir
13. ^ 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. dormir
14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 338
15. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. dormir