nightmare English · revision 185

5 Oct 2026, 22:13 by bogdan “Add pronunciation, sense history, timeline, meanings, word family, related words” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈnaɪt.mɛə/ ''(UK)''; /ˈnaɪt.mɛɚ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)
+ 
  ==Etymology==
− Recorded from c. 1300,^(Etymonline) compounded from [[night]] + [[mare]] “goblin that causes nightmares, incubus”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) It originally meant an evil female spirit thought to afflict sleepers with a feeling of suffocation;^(Etymonline)^(AHD) in the mid-16th century the sense shifted to the sensation itself,^(Etymonline) to “any bad dream” by 1829, and to “very distressing experience” by 1831.^(Etymonline)
+ Compounded from [[night]] + [[mare]] “goblin that causes nightmares, incubus”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Cognate with Middle Dutch ''nachtmare'' and German ''Nachtmahr''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
  
− Cognate with Middle Dutch ''nachtmare'' and German ''Nachtmahr''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ An evil female spirit thought to afflict sleepers, people or horses, with a feeling of suffocation (c. 1300).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(AHD)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ In the mid-16th century the sense shifted from the spirit to the suffocating sensation it causes,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) then to “any bad dream” (by 1829)^(Etymonline) and “a very distressing experience” (1831).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) An Old English word for the spirit was ''niht-genga''.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1290 – a female spirit afflicting sleepers.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1562 – a feeling of suffocation during sleep.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1660 – verb, “to beset as by a nightmare”.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1829 – “any bad dream”.^(Etymonline)
+ * 1831 – “a very distressing experience”.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A frightening dream.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A very distressing experience or situation.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(historical)'' A demon thought to oppress people in their sleep.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[nightmarish]]
+ * [[nightmarishly]]
+ * [[nightmarishness]]
+ * [[daymare]]
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[incubus]]
+ * [[succubus]]
  
  ==References==