Hypnos, Hypnus In Greek mythology, the god of sleep. The ancient Greeks invoked sleep by appealing to a god called Hypnos, from whose name the word 'hypnotism' was coined many centuries later. The link is quite appropriate, for in ancient Greece, if a person went into a deep sleep or trance situation from which it was difficult to arouse him, it w... Found on http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/2792/4