E 0849          SOMNI-

The wordpart " somni- " is of Latin origin .

H 0921                 ה נ ש

Concept of root : sleep

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה נ ש

shenà;

sleep;

Related English words

somni-  

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה נ ש  ,

shenà

sleep ;

sh . n .

Russian

сон

son

sleep

s . n

Polish

sen

sen

sleep

s . n

Latin

somnus

somnus

sleep

s . m n

English

somni-

somni-

s . m n

Italian

sonno

sonno

sleep

s . n

Irish

suan

suan

sleep

s . n

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SHENÀ --- *SŎN Indo-European

 

 

In this comparison we find a noun "ש נ ה , SH N Hè (accentuated vowel), shenà = sleep", but a verb with that same root and message seems not to be found. Seen the fact that in the Indo-European words of this entry we find a vowel " O " frequently used, we make a hypothetical step of "if and then" : If there would have been, as there should have been, a regular normal verb with that same root, the present participle would be "*ש ו נ ה , SH N Hè (accentuated vowel), shoné = sleeping". This would show a briefer distance. Instead Hebrew used a prefix to create a new verb, as shown in the following Note on Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew, as observed, instead of having and using a verb with a root that is the same of the related noun, in this case has a different verb for "to fall asleep" compared with "to sleep". This is " י ש ן , yashèn". In this verb the " Y " probably is a prefix with the meaning of "to be", added to the concept of "sleep", like "to be asleep". We add to this that the intensive form " yishan " did not mean "to sleep soundly" or the likes, but "to make fall asleep". See entry E 0850 (Hebrew 1069).

     

    A similar, but probably in origin not identical root, deals with the concept of "old" in many senses. Old is "yashan".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . This root is found in Aramaic and Syriac "ש נ ת א, shintà (A), shentà (S) = sleep" and related "י ש ן , Y SH N, yashèn = to sleep" in Hebrew and other Semitic languages. Ugaritic uses the root "Y SH M" for "to sleep", but also "SH N (T)" for "sleep". Akkadian has the nouns "shittu = sleep" and "shuttu, shunatu = dream". Both were probably already in use in Proto-Semitic: "*ש נ ה , SH N Hè (accentuated vowel) and "* י ש ן ,Y SH N".

     

    As mentioned, the initial " Y " in ""Y SH N" probably is a prefix. It may have had a predecessor " W ". For the comparison we quote the older "SHENÀ" .

 

Note:
  • Latin. The existence of an Old Indian word "svapnah" is not sufficient reason to suppose that Latin has been about identical, like "*suepnus" . Old Indian, with a certain geographical distance established, may well have had its own developments rather different from more Western branches of Indo-European, that also lived probably nearer to the speakers of Hebrew. Likewise , one may suppose that the couple "MN" in Latin is a development out of a single consonant N. Later this has anyhow been eliminated again in Italian and other Neo-Latin tongues.

     

    Another hypothesis is that Latin " sopire = to make sleep " is related also to "somnus". Thus "somnus" may come from " * sopnus". In that case the similarity with Hebrew would become rather far off. But "sopire" may as well have a different place in linguistic development, linked to the words mentioned in the following note:

 

Note:
  • Indo European. It is conceivable that Old Indian "svapnah" , with the root "*svap", is more narrowly related to Greek "hupnos" , Latin "sopire " and perhaps even English "sleep". Also Old Slavic "supati" and Lithuanian "sapnas", that should be related to Russian, come into this other group instead.

     

    For the root without " P ", as seen in Latin and Russian the hypothesis may be "*S Ŏ N-". Old Church Slavonic is given with dull vowels, as usual, in "sŭnŭ". Russian itself has sisterwords in the other modern Slavic languages, such as Polish "sen" and Serbian "san", all well related to Hebrew. Old Irish "sūan" probably belongs to the other group of words, those with a consonant " P " in them, as Celtic has this habit of eliminating the "P".

     

    We refer further to the following Note from entry E 0850 (Hebrew 1069)

 

Note:
  • Indo-European Around the concepts of sleeping and dreaming several roots run around in a not always disciplinary way. Well, discipline should not be part of language, that is, not beyond the necessity of communicating properly. English makes a clear distinction between "to sleep" and "to dream". It uses the three-consonant groups "S L P" and "D R M". And so does for example Italian with "dormire = to sleep" and "sognare = to dream". There already we see that "D R M" in Italian, and that is also Latin that had "dormire", is used for "to sleep", while in Germanic languages it says "to dream".

     

    Then a very important opening in words for "sleep" and "dream" is "S O". Here the vowel " O " behaves like does the Hebrew "WaW". It can become a consonant "V" if a language wants to use another vowel as in Old Indian "svápna" and Old Norse "svefn".

     

    A further important player is the consonant " P ", that we have seen in "sleep", but also already in Old Indian "svápna" and Old Norse "svefn" where it has become "PH = F". We may have a look at Latin: "Somnus = sleep", "somnium = dream" and "somniare = to dream", "sopire = to put to sleep", with "sopitus = asleep", "sopor = deep, solid sleep". There clearly are two combinations : "S Ŏ MN" and "S Ŏ P". To this must again be added "dormire = to sleep".

     

    It is unclear if and how Proto-Germanic "*SL Ā P-" ( "sleep" in English) should be related to "*SV È FN" as seen in old Norse.

     

    Follow a number of examples:

     

     

    Old Indian, in "svápna = sleep, dream" shows us the consonant " V " when elsewhere a vowel " O "can be found.

     

    Avestan with "xvapfna" has "sharpened" the " S " into " X ".

     

    Germanic in some languages has cognates of the words of this entry, as in Old Norse "svefn" and Old English "swefn", both meaning "sleep, dream".

     

    Celtic shows Old Irish "sū,an", but in Cymric the " S " has become a " H " as in Greek : "hūn".

     

    Greek *hüpnos <"*süpnos" is clearly related.

     

    Baltic with Lithuanian "sãpnas = dream" has no vowel "U" or consonant "W", but remains a cognate.

     

    Slavic has Old Church Slavonic "sůnů"and Russian "son".

     

    Latin "somnus" stand a bit alone with its "MN", that is to compare with "PN" or simply "N" in other languages. Very interesting is then that in the verb "sopire" the causative verb "to make sleep" is expressed. And then the noun "sōpor" stands for "deep sleep".

     

     

    Indo-European. An existing hypothesis is "*suepnos/*suopnos". The basic sounds seem to be "*S Ŏ P N-". But probably more forms existed at the same time, certainly "*S Ŏ N-" and probably "*S Ŏ P-". There is a further strong indication for this in the Neo-Latin languages, when we see in Provençal "sompnis" a " P " that was not used this way in Classic Latin. And in Old Norse a consonant " F (PH !) " where others had that " P ".

 

 

 

 
"...the town, to which was given the name Babel, because it was there that the Lord confused the language of all the world on the face of which He dispersed them. GENESIS 11,9"
 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 04/12/2012 at 10.58.14