It doesn’t seem like such a stretch to assume the word nightmare is related to the English word mare which means 'female horse'. With ghost stories like that of the headless horseman, it doesn’t seem implausible that among the many weird connections and quirks in the English language there might be one about horses and sleeping. The mare in nightmare actually comes from the Proto-Germanic ‘maron’ meaning ‘goblin’. In German folklore a mare was an evil female spirit or goblin-like creature who suffocated men in their sleep. Another archaic word for nightmare is incubus which is also the name of a mythological male demon who was believ...
For a moment, let’s venture into the mysterious and umbral realms of slumber. Daydreams, nightmares, fantasies, imagination… What do these words mean to you? To me they conjure a very distinct mood or state of mind: clouded, shadowy and often obscure… yet seemingly… real. The word dream encompasses a diverse set of definitions. While a dream could merely refer to a hope, desire or wish for the future – we also attribute the word to the boundless unpredictability of our mind during sleep. Over the centuries, the word dream has become more and more inclined towards the non-existent, the fantastical and spiritual. Many people attempt to interpret and...
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