"nightmare" and "bugbear"

[Larry Trask]

Steve Long writes [on 'nightmare']:

>  There may be a little bit of horse involved in the history of this
>  word/concept.  One of the earliest descriptions of a severe incident of
>  nightmare appears in the "Ynglingasaga":

[snip part of story]

>  But he had hardly
>  gone to sleep when he called out, saying that a mara rode him. His men went
>  to him and wanted to help him. But when they took hold of his head the mara
>  trod on his legs so they nearly broke; and when they seized his feet it
>  stepped down down on his head so that he died." (Ynglingasaga,13)

>  Now what's a little odd about this is that, in this tradition, the mara
>  "rides" you.  The Old Norse for horse (of either gender) -- marr -- might
>  have been source of this confusion.  But the "riding" element also occurs in
>  some of the earliest references in English.  The OED cites a quote from
>  1000AD: "Gif mon mare ride..."

Yes, but the Old English verb did not mean exclusively 'sit on a horse'.
It also commonly meant 'sit on (anything)', 'perch on (anything)'.
This use is attested as early as Beowulf, according to the OED, and it
was common in early English.  It is still in the language today.

So, there is nothing odd about speaking of the (night)mare as 'riding'
its victim.  Nor can I see this as implying anything horsey: we ride
horses, but horses don't ride us.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk

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