Morpheus

English

Etymology
Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, Morpheus and Iris (1811).

Borrowed from Latin Morpheus (possibly coined by Ovid in his Metamorphoses as the god is not mentioned in earlier works), from Ancient Greek Μορφεύς (Morpheús), from μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”) (alluding to the fact that Morpheus appeared in dreams in the forms of different people) + -εύς (-eús, suffix forming masculine nouns indicating persons concerned with particular things).[1]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Morpheus

  1. (Greek mythology) The god and personification of dreams; according to the Roman poet Ovid, one of the sons of Somnus, the god of sleep.
    Coordinate terms: (nightmares) Phobetor, (inanimate objects in prophetic dreams) Phantasos, (people in prophetic dreams) Ikelos

Derived terms

Translations

References
  1. “Morpheus, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2002; “Morpheus, proper n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Anagrams

Turkish

Proper noun

Morpheus

  1. (Greek mythology) Morpheus
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