insonne

Forms

insonne m or f by sense (plural insonni)^[1] An older form Old Italian insomne, closer to the Latin spelling, is also recorded.^[2]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin insomnis (“sleepless, wakeful”).^{[3][4][5][6][2]} The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and somnus (“sleep”) with the adjective ending -is.^[7][1][8] Devoto notes that it passed into the same declension as imbellis and informis.^[9]

The noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swépnos (“sleep”), the source also of Ancient Greek ὕπνος (húpnos).^[10][1] Latin already had the derivative insomnia, the source of insonnia.^[3] Outside Italy DEI compares French insomnie (1555) and Spanish insomne.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record DELI gives is of an extended sense, a stretch of time passed without sleep, in the poet Cariteo, who died in 1514.^[3] The sense “unable to sleep”, of a person, is dated 1618, in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger.^[3][5][6] In his 1726 commentary on that text, A. M. Salvini still explained it as a Latin word: Insonne, voce latina, insomnis (“insonne, a Latin word, insomnis”), glossing it with dissonnato and vegghiante, “sleepless, wakeful”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo marked the word as belonging to the written language and quoted Buonarroti's Fiera: neither lettuce nor poppy can make un'alma insonne (“a sleepless soul”) sleep.^[12] Manzoni's insonni tenebre (“sleepless darkness”) shows it applied to the night itself.^[12][13]

Before 1828 Pindemonte used it in the figurative sense “tireless, busy”, and in 1931 Panzini's dictionary counted it among the many emphatic words for a good worker.^[3] DEI notes that it had a moment of fame in 1913, when Amalia Guglielminetti published her poems L'insonne.^[11][3] The noun insonnia “sleeplessness” is recorded from 1732.^[3]

Timeline

• Before 1514 – Cariteo uses insonne of time spent without sleep.^[3]
• 1618 – Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger uses it of a person unable to sleep.^[3][5][6]
• 1726 – A. M. Salvini's commentary explains it as a Latin word.^[3][2]
• 1732 – Insonnia is first recorded, in G. Crivelli's Elementi di fisica.^[3]
• Before 1828 – Pindemonte uses it in the sense “tireless”.^[3]
• 1913 – Amalia Guglielminetti publishes her poems L'insonne.^[11]
• 1931 – Panzini's dictionary calls it an emphatic word for a good worker.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not sleeping, or unable to fall asleep, in the hours normally given to sleep; sleepless, wakeful: Era ancora insonne alle tre, con la testa piena di pensieri.^{[5][6][14][1]}
2. (medicine) Having difficulty sleeping because of insomnia.^[14]
3. Of a period of time, passed without sleep: una settimana insonne prima del trasloco.^[5][6][15]
4. (figurative) Of a person, tireless, never allowing oneself rest from work; indefatigable.^[5][8][16]
5. Of an activity or effort, allowing no rest, unceasing.^[5][6][15]

Word family

• insonnia
• insonnemente

Related words

• sonno
• Latin insomnis

Usage notes

Used as a noun, insonne means a sleepless person, as in D'Annunzio and Viani.^[2] insonnolito “drowsy” is not derived from it but from sonno.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
10. ^ 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 c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2051
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
16. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)