About my blog name...
Its Old English for Night mare. I decided that "nightmare" as a title was just too plain. So I looked for the etymology thinking I'd get a Latin word but lo and behold, I got something better. XD
Here's the etymology of Nightmare
c.1290, "an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation," compounded from night + mare "goblin that causes nightmares, incubus," from O.E. mare "incubus," from mera, mære, from P.Gmc. *maron "goblin," from PIE *mora- "incubus," from base *mer- "to rub away, harm, seize" (cf. first element in O.Ir. Morrigain "demoness of the corpses," lit. "queen of the nightmare [1]," also Bulg., Serb., Pol. mora "incubus;" Fr. cauchemar, with first element is from O.Fr. caucher "to trample"). Meaning shifted mid-16c. from the incubus to the suffocating sensation it causes.
Definitions of Nightmare
The mare in nightmare is not a female horse, but a mara, an Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse term for a demon that sat on sleepers' chests, causing them to have bad dreams.
Dialect variants, as explained below, include the forms mara, mahr, mahrt, mårt, and others.
In High German, the demon who causes bad dreams is most often called an Alp, a word that is etymologically related to elf.
A mare-induced bad dream is called a nightmare in English, martröð (mare-ride) in Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic, mareridt (mare-ride) in Danish, mareritt (mare-ride) in Norwegian, and Alpdruck (alp-pressure) or Alptraum (alp-dream) in German.
Now another interesting factoid...
Baku, Eater of Dreams
Japan
In Japan, among superstitious people, evil dreams are believed to be the result of evil spirits, and the supernatural creature called Baku is known as Eater of Dreams.
The Baku, like so many mythological beings, is a curious mingling of various animals. It has the face of a lion, the body of a horse, the tail of a cow, the forelock of a rhinoceros, and the feet of a tiger.
Several evil dreams are mentioned in an old Japanese book, such as two snakes twined together, a fox with the voice of a man, blood-stained garments, a talking rice-pot, and so on.
When a Japanese peasant awakens from an evil nightmare, he cries: "Devour, O Baku! devour my evil dream." At one time pictures of the Baku were hung up in Japanese houses and its name written upon pillows. It was believed that if the Baku could be induced to eat a horrible dream, the creature had the power to change it into good fortune
[1] "...of nightmares" ah, nice...but it's not as if I like this demon..Ionly just learned of this. I just think it's cool. ;D
Sources:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nightmare
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nightmare.html
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nightmare.html#baku
~don't think me garish...I merely wanted the word...just wanted it.
Here's the etymology of Nightmare
c.1290, "an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation," compounded from night + mare "goblin that causes nightmares, incubus," from O.E. mare "incubus," from mera, mære, from P.Gmc. *maron "goblin," from PIE *mora- "incubus," from base *mer- "to rub away, harm, seize" (cf. first element in O.Ir. Morrigain "demoness of the corpses," lit. "queen of the nightmare [1]," also Bulg., Serb., Pol. mora "incubus;" Fr. cauchemar, with first element is from O.Fr. caucher "to trample"). Meaning shifted mid-16c. from the incubus to the suffocating sensation it causes.
Definitions of Nightmare
The mare in nightmare is not a female horse, but a mara, an Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse term for a demon that sat on sleepers' chests, causing them to have bad dreams.
Dialect variants, as explained below, include the forms mara, mahr, mahrt, mårt, and others.
In High German, the demon who causes bad dreams is most often called an Alp, a word that is etymologically related to elf.
A mare-induced bad dream is called a nightmare in English, martröð (mare-ride) in Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic, mareridt (mare-ride) in Danish, mareritt (mare-ride) in Norwegian, and Alpdruck (alp-pressure) or Alptraum (alp-dream) in German.
Now another interesting factoid...
Baku, Eater of Dreams
Japan
In Japan, among superstitious people, evil dreams are believed to be the result of evil spirits, and the supernatural creature called Baku is known as Eater of Dreams.
The Baku, like so many mythological beings, is a curious mingling of various animals. It has the face of a lion, the body of a horse, the tail of a cow, the forelock of a rhinoceros, and the feet of a tiger.
Several evil dreams are mentioned in an old Japanese book, such as two snakes twined together, a fox with the voice of a man, blood-stained garments, a talking rice-pot, and so on.
When a Japanese peasant awakens from an evil nightmare, he cries: "Devour, O Baku! devour my evil dream." At one time pictures of the Baku were hung up in Japanese houses and its name written upon pillows. It was believed that if the Baku could be induced to eat a horrible dream, the creature had the power to change it into good fortune
[1] "...of nightmares" ah, nice...but it's not as if I like this demon..Ionly just learned of this. I just think it's cool. ;D
Sources:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nightmare
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nightmare.html
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nightmare.html#baku
~don't think me garish...I merely wanted the word...just wanted it.
posted by sickle | 9:39 am
1 Comments:
HI!
My thoughts: The name is something to behold
I like it ^^
In K's lexicon, it's very prettyful ^^
I dont know. I have no qualms about "prettyful". It's an all purpose word. In this case, it means ethereal.
Imagine the sensation it brings when sighed to your ear.
YOu know the song of Sixpence NOne the Richer? "Breath your name"
Haven't heard the song but "breathing someone's name" is very romantic isn't it?
"Like breathing your (love's) name..."
That's what I associate to it (nod,nod)
It's a must love ^^
He, he saw your recent post in TOlkien, smilies abound. Connections bridge from there.
Will get back to you on the kanji.
Keep blogging ^^
Will visit soon
-athrun's girl
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