dormiveglia

Italian

FWOTD – 16 December 2021

Etymology

Verb-verb compound, composed of dormi (“sleep”) +‎ veglia (“wake”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dor.miˈveʎ.ʎa/
• Rhymes: -eʎʎa
• Hyphenation: dor‧mi‧vé‧glia

Noun

dormiveglia m (invariable)

1. state of between being awake and asleep at the same time; light sleep; halfsleep
   • 2019, George Orwell, translated by Nicola Gardini, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mondadori:

     Spesso, tra un pasto e l'altro, rimaneva disteso quasi senza muoversi, in certi momenti dormendo, in altri sospeso in un dormiveglia fantastico che gli impediva di aprire gli occhi.

     Often he would lie from one meal to the next almost without stirring, sometimes asleep, sometimes waking into vague reveries in which it was too much trouble to open his eyes.

     (literally, “Often, between one meal and the other, he remained lying down almost without moving, sleeping at certain moments, and at others, suspended in a fantastic half-sleep that kept him from opening his eyes.”)