dormi

Forms

dormi (first-person singular present dorm, third-person singular present doarme, past participle dormit, third-person subjunctive doarmă), fourth conjugation^[1][2] The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has the old form durmi: „Eu adurmiiu și durmiiu și sculaiu, că Domnul sprejenitu-me-au” “I lay down and slept and rose, for the Lord upheld me” (Psalm 3).^[3][4] Durmi is still regional.^[2][5] In Moldovan Cyrillic it was written дорми.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin dormiō (“to sleep”), a verb all the Romance languages share.^{[4][6][2][5][7][8]} It survives in all four branches: Aromanian dormu, Megleno-Romanian dorm and Istro-Romanian durmi.^{[4][9][10][8]} Its Romance cognates include Italian dormire, Sardinian dormire, Dalmatian dormer, French dormir, Spanish dormir and Portuguese dormir.^[6][7][8]

The Latin verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *dr̥m-yé-ti, built on *drem- (“to sleep”).^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, where the form durmi renders the psalmist's “I slept”.^[4][3][8] MDA2 dates the first record to the Psaltirea Scheiană (1573–1578).^[5]

Semantic evolution

The core sense “to sleep” has kept its place; from it come “to spend the night somewhere” and, figuratively, “to be dead”, as in a dormi somnul de veci “to sleep the eternal sleep”.^[2][5][12] Figuratively it also means to be absent-minded or slow at work, and of things, to lie hidden; in Transylvania a fire that “sleeps” is one that smoulders.^[2][4] Folk speech has many similes for deep sleep: a dormi ca un buștean “to sleep like a log”, and a dormi iepurește “to sleep like a hare” is to sleep lightly, ready to wake.^[5] Gorjan coined dormir “cemetery” in 1835, a partial calque of the Greek word for cemetery, which did not last.^[4]

Timeline

• early 16th century – durmi in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[4][3]
• 1570 – the participle durmit “slept” in Coresi's psalter.^[4]
• 1573–1578 – dormi in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[5]
• 1835 – dormir “cemetery” in Gorjan.^[4]
• 1870 – dormeză “daybed”, borrowed from French dormeuse.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sleep: a dormi pe picioare “to be dead tired; to be slow at work”.^[2][1]
2. (figurative) To be inattentive, absent-minded.^[2]
3. (figurative) To be dead: a dormi somnul de veci “to sleep the eternal sleep”.^[2][12]
4. To spend the night somewhere: Am dormit la bunici.^[2]
5. (figurative) To lie hidden; of a fire, to smoulder.^[2][4]

Word family

• dormit
• dormitor
• nedormit

Related words

• adormi
• dormita
• dormeză
• Aromanian dormu
• Latin dormiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 328
3. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. dormi
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. dormi
5. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 747
6. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. dormi
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2751
8. ^ a b c d Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom, p. s.v. */ˈdɔrm-i-/
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 412
10. ^ Saramandu, Nicolae (coord.) et al. (2010–), Dicționarul dialectului meglenoromân, general și etimologic, fascicles in Fonetică și dialectologie XXIX–, p. 231
11. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. dormi