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Dormouse

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dor⋅mouse

  [dawr-mous]
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–noun, plural -mice  [-mahys] .
any small, furry-tailed, Old World rodent of the family Gliridae, resembling small squirrels in appearance and habits.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME dormowse, dormoise; etym. obscure; perh. AF deriv. of OF dormir to sleep (see dormant ), with final syll. reanalyzed as mouse, but no such AF word is known
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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dor·mouse   (dôr'mous')   
n.  Any of various small, squirrellike Old World rodents of the family Gliridae.

[Middle English, probably alteration (influenced by mous, mouse) of Anglo-Norman dormeus, inclined to sleep, hibernating, from Old French dormir, to sleep; see dormant.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

dormouse 
c.1425, possibly from Anglo-Fr. *dormouse "tending to be dormant" (from stem of dormir "to sleep," see dormer), with the second element mistaken for mouse, or from a M.E. dial. compound of mouse and M.Fr. dormir. The rodent is inactive in winter. Fr. dormeuse, fem. of dormeur "sleeper" is only attested from 17c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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