nightmare English · revision 65
5 Oct 2026, 20:16 by bogdan “Etymologies from AHD, Etymonline, MW, OED, RHWU, Wiktionary” current version
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+ ==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)
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+ Cognate with Middle Dutch ''nachtmare'' and German ''Nachtmahr''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
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+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}