"nightmare"

[Eduard Selleslagh]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Trask" <larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk>
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2000 5:03 PM

> Steve Long writes:

>> So once again, based on this much at least, it seems the "mare" (in
>> nightmare) is a Germanic-Slavic thing.  And though the word may be
>> reconstructible as IE, its meanings and usage appear to be too local and
>> complex to justify seeing it as IE.  (Of course, I don't know how this whole
>> idea ran in Basque.)

> The only Basque word for 'nightmare' in the 'creature' sense I know of
> is <inguma>.  This is pretty clearly of Latino-Romance origin, though
> the direct source would appear to be an unrecorded Latin *<incuba>,
> an altered form of the familiar <incubus>.  So far as I am aware, the
> Basque word is unmarked for sex, and it translates both 'incubus' and
> 'succubus'.

> Other Basque words, like <iratxo> and <mamu>, are used much more
> generally, to denote just about any kind of hobgoblin or imp.

[Ed Selleslagh]

I don't remember if it was already mention, but in Dutch, e.g. 'mare' is an
archaic word for (usually bad) news. On the other hand, a nightmare is
'nachtmerrie', with literally the same meaning. I once read that 'nachtmerrie'
was actually a popular misinterpretation of what was originally 'nachtmare',
i.e. bad news in a dream.