sono

Forms

sono m (plural sonos)^[1] Houaiss records sono, sonno and sõo in the 13th century, sopno and ssono in the 14th, and somno in the 15th.^[2] The Crónica Geral also writes soño.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin somnus (“sleep”), written Old Galician-Portuguese sono in the oldest texts.^[2][4][5][1] Portuguese keeps it apart from sonho “dream”, which comes from somnium (“dream”).^[4] Spanish sueño stands for both Latin words, and French sommeil comes from the diminutive somniculus.^[2][6]

The same Latin word is Galician sono, Italian sonno and Romanian somn.^[1][7] The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *swepnos and Proto-Indo-European *swépnos (“sleep”), from the root *swep-;^[1][8] it is cognate with Ancient Greek ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”) and Sanskrit स्वप्न (svapna, “sleep, dream”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a man falls into tal sono que sempre depois dormira “such a sleep that he would have slept for ever after”, and the monks of another miracle have tan gran sono that they do not wake.^[3] A cantiga of Roi Fernandiz de Santiago in the Cancioneiro da Ajuda speaks of sleeping all one's sleep (dormir todo seu sono).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The medieval word already meant both the state of sleep and the need for it.^[3] The early dictionaries render it by Latin somnus,^[9][10] and Bluteau explains sleep as a suspension of the senses caused by vapours rising from the stomach to the brain.^[11] Figurative uses make it death (sono eterno, sono dos justos), stagnation, idleness and calm.^[2][12]

The word passed into Macanese as sôno and into Ambonese Malay as sono.^[1]

Timeline

• 1200s – first records, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][4][3]
• 1300s – the spelling sopno, with a ⟨p⟩ after the Latin.^[2]
• c. 1430 – sono in the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437).^[13]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders sono by Latin somnus.^[9]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives a long physiological account of sleep.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. sleep: the periodic state of rest in which consciousness and the senses are suspended.^[2][14][1]
2. sleepiness; the need or wish to sleep: Estou com sono.^[2][14][1]
3. A period of sleep; the state of one who sleeps: dormir a sono solto “to sleep soundly”.^[2][14]
4. (figurative) death.^[2][12]
5. (figurative) Stagnation; lack of activity or of will; indolence.^[2]
6. (figurative) Stillness, calm.^[2]

Word family

• soneca
• soneira
• ensonado

Related words

• sonho
• sonhar
• insônia
• sonolento
• Latin somnus
• Spanish sueño

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sono
3. ^ a b c d e Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. sono
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sono
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sono
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sueño
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8066
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. somnus
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sono
10. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sono
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sono
12. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. sono
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sono
14. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sono