Table of Contents
The word for today is…
nightmare (noun):
1: an evil spirit formerly thought to oppress people during sleep
2: a frightening dream that usually awakens the sleeper
3: something (such as an experience, situation, or object) having the monstrous character of a nightmare or producing a feeling of anxiety or terror
Source : Merriam -Webster
Etymology : Looking at nightmare, you might guess that it is a compound formed from night and mare. If so, your guess is correct. But while the night in nightmare makes sense, the mare part is less obvious. Most English speakers know mare as a word for a female horse or similar equine animal, but the mare of nightmare is a different word, an obsolete one referring to an evil spirit that was once thought to produce feelings of suffocation in people while they slept. By the 14th century the mare was also known as nightmare, and by the late 16th century nightmare was also being applied to the feelings of distress caused by the spirit, and then to frightening or unpleasant dreams.
If you enjoyed this Good Oil word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends and, especially, your children.
