The Mare in Nightmare Is a Different Word
A mare is a female horse. The mare in nightmare is an entirely separate creature.
A mare is an adult female horse. The *mare* in *nightmare* is unrelated: Old English *mære* was a malevolent spirit believed to sit on a sleeper's chest and cause suffocating dreams. The same creature appears across Germanic and Slavic folklore, and the belief almost certainly describes sleep paralysis, in which a person wakes unable to move and often feels a presence. A third *mare* is a dark plain on the Moon, Latin for sea, named when astronomers thought them water.
- A female horse. *A grey mare.*
- A dream spirit. *Nightmare.*
- A lunar plain. *Mare Tranquillitatis.*
- Sleep paralysis. *The likely explanation.*
- Old English — *mere*. *The horse.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | mare | A mare. |
| Plural | mares | Mares. |
| Compound | nightmare | A nightmare. |
| Latin | mare | A sea. |
| Old English | mære | A spirit. |
- The mare foaled in spring.Horse.
- Nightmare uses a different word.Etymology.
- Mare Tranquillitatis is on the Moon.Astronomy.
About sleep paralysis
- The body is paralysed during dreaming sleep, to prevent acting out dreams
- Waking before that lifts leaves a person conscious but immobile
- A sense of pressure or presence is commonly reported
- Folklore across many cultures describes a figure sitting on the chest
- The experience is harmless though frightening
The horse is Old English *mere*. The dream spirit is Old English *mære*. The lunar plain is Latin *mare*, a sea.
Is a nightmare related to a horse?
No. The mare in nightmare was a spirit believed to sit on a sleeper's chest, a belief that almost certainly describes sleep paralysis.
Why are lunar plains called maria?
Early astronomers mistook the dark basalt plains for seas, and the Latin name stayed after the error was corrected.