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).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔː.fɪ.əs/, /ˈmɔː.fjuːs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɹ.fɪ.əs/, /ˈmɔɹˌfjus/
• Hyphenation: Mor‧phe‧us

Proper noun

Morpheus

2. (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

• in the arms of Morpheus

Translations

Greek god and personification of dreams

• Albanian: Morfeu m
• Bulgarian: Морфей (Morfej)
• Catalan: Morfeu m
• Czech: Morfeus
• Danish: Morfeus
• Dutch: Morpheus
• Estonian: Morpheus
• Finnish: Morfeus (fi)
• French: Morphée (fr)
• German: Morpheus (de)
• Greek: Μορφέας (el) m (Morféas)
• Hebrew: מוֹרְפֶאוּס m (Morfe'us)
• Hungarian: Morpheusz (hu)
• Icelandic: Morfeos
• Italian: Morfeo m
• Japanese: モルペウス (Morupeusu)
• Lithuanian: Morfėjus m
• Marathi: मॉर्फियस m (mŏrphiyas)
• Persian: مورفئوس (morfe'us)
• Polish: Morfeusz (pl)
• Portuguese: Morfeu m
• Romanian: Morfeu m
• Russian: Морфей (ru) (Morfej)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Морфеј

• Slovak: Morfeus
• Spanish: Morfeo m
• Swedish: Morfeus (sv)
• Ukrainian: Морфей (Morfej)

Further reading

• Morpheus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• sophumer, humpsore

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Μορφεύς (Morpheús).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmor.pʰeu̯s/, [ˈmɔrpʰɛu̯s̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmor.feu̯s/, [ˈmɔrfeu̯s]

Noun

Morpheus m sg (genitive Morpheos or Morpheī or Morphe͡i); second declension

1. Morpheus
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.633–635:

     “At pater e populo natorum mille suorum excitat artificem simulatoremque figurae Morphea”

Declension

Second-declension noun (Greek-type), singular only.

	singular
nominative	Morphe͡us
genitive	Morpheos Morpheī Morphe͡i
dative	Morpheō
accusative	Morphea
ablative	Morpheō
vocative	Morphe͡u

References

• “Morpheus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Turkish

Proper noun

Morpheus

1. (Greek mythology) Morpheus