insomnium Latin · revision 36824

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la somnus}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''īnsomnium''' ''n'' (genitive īnsomniī or īnsomnī); second declension^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|in-|somnus|-ium|t1=not|t2=sleep]], which gives the sense “sleeplessness”;^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) in the sense “dream” it was understood as ⟨in⟩ “in” with [[m|la|somnium|t=dream]], on the model of [[grc|ἐνύπνιον|tr=enúpnion|t=dream]].^(OLD 2012) Georges keeps the two apart as separate words, the “dream” word formed after the Greek,^(Georges 1913) and the TLL explains it as made from the phrase ⟨in somnīs⟩ “in sleep” after the Greek, filing the uses meaning “sleeplessness” under [[īnsomnia]].^(TLL)

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+ [[m|la|somnus]] goes back to [[itc-pro|*swopno-]] and [[ine-pro|*suépno-|t=sleep]].^(de Vaan 2008)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD and Conte first cite it from Cicero,^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) who in ''On Old Age'' says that old age is spared drunkenness, indigestion and sleepless nights (''vīnulentiā et cruditāte et īnsomniīs'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the sense “dream” it is first found twice in Virgil's ''Aeneid'',^(TLL) where Dido asks her sister Anna what dreams (''quae īnsomnia'') terrify her as she lies sleepless, and where the shades send false dreams up to the sky.^(TLL) It then appears in Ovid, Seneca and Pliny the Elder,^(TLL) who reports that bean porridge was thought to cause dreams, while Cato said boiled cabbage took away sleeplessness.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) The plural is usual; the singular is found in Tacitus and later writers.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

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+ Servius explains ''īnsomnium'' as what is seen in sleep,^(TLL) and Macrobius makes the ''īnsomnium'', the Greek ''enhypnion'', one of his kinds of dreams, the kind that has no truth in it.^(TLL) Both senses lived on in medieval Latin: Bede and Anselm use it of sleeplessness, and other writers list it among the kinds of dream and vision.^(DMLBS) It survives in [[it|insogno]] and [[es|ensueño]].^(TLL)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the plural of sleepless nights.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of dreams in the ''Aeneid''.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of both dreams and sleeplessness.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the singular for a dream.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius treats it as a kind of dream without truth.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * second half of the 11th century–1109 – Anselm of Canterbury uses it of sleeplessness.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(usually plural)'' [[m|en|sleeplessness|alt=Sleeplessness]], [[m|en|wakefulness]].^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(usually plural)'' A [[m|en|dream]], a [[m|en|vision]] seen in sleep.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[somnus]]

+ * [[īnsomnis]]

+ * [[īnsomnia]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein notes that [[somnium]] is the prose word for a dream, while ''īnsomnium'', like Greek ''enhypnion'', belongs to poetry.^(Döderlein 1874)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}