insomnis Latin · revision 34278

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=ine-pro *suépno-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ĩːˈsɔm.nɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [inˈsɔm.nis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnsomnis''' (neuter īnsomne); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|somnus|-is|t1=not|t2=sleep]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) [[m|la|somnus]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*swopno-]] and [[ine-pro|*suépno-|t=sleep]], with cognates such as [[sa|स्वप्न|tr=svápna-|t=sleep, dream]] and [[grc|ὕπνος|tr=húpnos|t=sleep]].^(de Vaan 2008) Compare [[exsomnis]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it from Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) but the TLL treats the reading in Cato as a doubtful conjecture and finds it securely from Virgil and Horace on.^(TLL) It means sleepless.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means unsleeping, wakeful, and perhaps also unable to sleep;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis and Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace uses it of Gyges spending sleepless nights, Ovid of a dragon, and Tacitus contrasts men who were ''insomnes magis quam pervigiles'', sleepless rather than watchful.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Of a night or of care it means without sleep: Virgil has guards spending a sleepless night at play.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it keeps the sense sleepless,^(Stelten 1995) and in Medieval Latin from Britain it is used of people and of nights, as when Bede writes of brethren spending the night sleepless in prayer and psalms.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a sleepless night.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of Gyges' sleepless nights.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a dragon.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus has ''insomnes magis quam pervigiles''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|sleepless|alt=Sleepless]], [[m|en|wakeful]], unsleeping; unable to sleep.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # (of a night, of care) Without sleep.^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[īnsomnia]]

+ * [[īnsomnietās]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[somnus]]

+ * [[exsomnis]]

+ * [[somnium]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein contrasts it with [[vigil]], which means awake by choice and with attention;^(Döderlein 1874) ''insomnis'' and [[exsomnis]] mean only sleepless, and ''insomnis'' is one who cannot sleep, ''exsomnis'' one who will not.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}