ἐνύπνιον

Forms

ἐνῠ́πνῐον (enúpnion) n (genitive ἐνῠπνῐ́ου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἐνύπνιος (enúpnios, “seen in sleep”), the neuter of the adjective used as a noun.^[1][2] Beekes explains the adjective as a hypostasis of the phrase “in sleep”, ἐν (en, “in”) with the dative of ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”).^[3]

The noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sup-no-, from the verbal root Proto-Indo-European *swep- (“to fall asleep”).^[3][4] Related nouns with other ablaut grades are Latin somnus, Lithuanian sãpnas, Old Irish súan, Old Norse svefn and Albanian gjumë.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer the neuter is used as an adverb, “in sleep”: in the Iliad and the Odyssey a speaker tells how a divine dream came to him as he slept.^[2][5] As a noun meaning “dream” it appears after Homer, first in Pindar, who tells of a dream that had to be obeyed.^[6][2][5]

Semantic evolution

From the 5th century BC on, it is a common word for a dream, often one that carries a warning and needs an interpreter: Aeschylus speaks of a judge of dreams, and Herodotus of advice given about a dream.^[5][2] Herodotus also has dreams that only wander among men and mean nothing, and the comic poets use the adverb for something unreal: in Aristophanes a character asks whether a feast is only a dream, and in Menander “not even in a dream” means “never”.^[5][2] Hippocratic medicine studied dreams as signs, and inscriptions from Epidaurus record dreams seen by the sick who slept in the sanctuary to be healed.^[5]

The Septuagint uses it for Joseph's dreams in Genesis, and the New Testament for dreams as a means of divine communication, in a quotation from Joel in Acts.^[5][7][8][9] Artemidorus, the 2nd-century AD interpreter of dreams, kept ἐνύπνιον for an ordinary dream and ὄνειρος (óneiros) for a prophetic one, but other writers do not keep this distinction.^[2]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept the ancient noun.^[10] Modern Greek has ενύπνιο (enýpnio) “dream”, from the ancient word.^[11]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the neuter as an adverb, “in sleep”.^[2][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it as a noun for a dream that must be obeyed.^[6][2]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus speaks of the vision of dreams and of their interpreter.^[2][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus writes of advice about a dream and of dreams that mean nothing.^[2][5]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers treat dreams as signs and describe frightening dreams.^[5]
• 4th century BC – An inscription from Epidaurus records a dream seen by a sick person sleeping in the sanctuary.^[5]
• 2nd century AD – Artemidorus distinguishes ἐνύπνιον, an ordinary dream, from ὄνειρος (óneiros), a prophetic one.^[2]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular Greek keeps the ancient noun.^[10]
• Modern Greek – The word survives as ενύπνιο (enýpnio) “dream”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dream, a vision seen in sleep, often one to be interpreted; in the Septuagint and the New Testament also a dream sent by God.^{[2][12][5][8]}
2. (adverbial accusative) In sleep, in a dream; with a negative, “not even in a dream”, never.^[2][5][13]

Word family

• ἐνυπνιάζω (enúpniázō)
• ἐνυπνιαστής (enupniastḗs)

Related words

• ἐνύπνιος (enúpnios)
• ὕπνος (húpnos)
• ὄνειρος (óneiros)
• Latin somnus

Usage notes

Ancient lexica gloss it with ὄναρ (ónar) “dream”, and its opposite is ὕπαρ (húpar), a waking vision.^[14][15] The Etymologicum Magnum treats the Homeric use as an adverb made from the noun, meaning “in sleep”.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
6. ^ a b Slater, William J. (1969), Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: De Gruyter
7. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
10. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
11. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
12. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
13. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
14. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
15. ^ Charbonnet, André (2025), Chæréphon, v4.7: supplement to Bailly from papyri, inscriptions and recent lexica
16. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press