sogno

Forms

sogno m (plural sogni)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin somnium (“dream”), derived from somnus (“sleep”), which also gave sonno.^[2][3][4][1] The verb sognare is from the Latin derivative somniō (“to dream”).^[2][3]

The same Latin word is French songe, Occitan somne, Catalan somni, Spanish sueño and Portuguese sonho, and Friulian sum in Friulian.^[3][5] Old forms were Old Italian sompnio, songnio, sonio and sonnio, and a feminine plural sognora or sonnia beside the masculine one.^[6]

The Latin word for sleep goes back to Proto-Italic *swepnos, from Proto-Indo-European *swépnos (“sleep”), which is also Ancient Greek ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”).^[1][7] De Vaan sets up a derivative *swe/opnjo- (“dream”) and says the Latin noun for dream may continue an inherited derivative or be a Latin formation.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in an anonymous poet of the late 12th or early 13th century, in the phrase per sogno “in a dream”: “anzi per sogno vegna spesse fiate” (rather, may I come often in a dream).^[2][6] GRADIT dates the word to before 1292.^[4] Bono Giamboni writes of Nebuchadnezzar, who saw dreams (sognora) that frightened him.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch (before 1374) used the word for a fantasy, something far from reality, in lines such as “quanto piace al mondo è breve sogno” (whatever pleases the world is a brief dream).^[2][8] Foscolo (1794–1816) used it for a very beautiful person or thing, a sense still current in è un sogno and da sogno.^[2][9]

Modern phrases are neanche per sogno “not on your life”, il libro dei sogni, a book that turns dreams into lottery numbers, and il sogno americano, a calque on English American dream.^[4][10][11] Sognare a occhi aperti “to daydream” is recorded in 1914, after sognare con gli occhi aperti in 1708.^[2]

Timeline

• Late 12th–early 13th century – per sogno in an anonymous poet.^[2]
• Before 1292 – GRADIT's date of first record.^[4]
• Before 1374 – Petrarch uses sogno for an illusion.^[2]
• 1794–1816 – Foscolo uses it for a very beautiful person or thing.^[2]
• 1914 – Sognare a occhi aperti in Camillo Sbarbaro.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dream, the images and feelings that come in sleep: Stanotte ho fatto un sogno stranissimo.^{[4][10][8][1]}
2. Dreaming as a mental activity: vedere qualcuno in sogno.^[4][10][9]
3. An illusion, something unreal: Sembrava tutto un sogno.^[4][8][1]
4. A wish, hope or ambition: Il suo sogno è aprire un ristorante.^[4][8][9]
5. Something marvellous: Questa casa è un sogno, da sogno, wonderful.^[9][11][1]
6. neanche per sogno, nemmeno per sogno: certainly not, not at all.^[4][10][9]
7. sogni d'oro: sweet dreams.^[4][1]

Word family

• sognante
• sognare
• sognatore
• trasognare

Related words

• sognaccio
• sonno
• insonnia
• Latin somnium

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 Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
10. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
11. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana