köken: Inherited from Middle French cauchemare, from Old French cauquemare. By surface analysis, cauque + mar. Compare Walloon tchôcmwår. * First element from Old French cauche, from the verb chauchier (“to press”), from Latin calcare (“to trample, tread on”), from calx (“heel”), of uncertain origin. * Second element from Frankish *marā (“evil spirit”), from Proto-West Germanic *marā, from…
köken: From Middle Dutch nachtmerie, nachtmere, likened to merrie (“female horse”) through folk etymology; the actual formation is from nachtmare. Equivalent to nacht + mare.
köken: Via Ancient Greek ἐφιάλτης (ephiáltēs) (compare Ἐφιάλτης (Ephiáltēs)) from Ancient Greek ἐπιάλλω (epiállō), Attic Greek ἐφιάλλω (ephiállō, “send to, throw upon”).
köken: painaa (“to press”) + -jainen – originally, painajainen was a demon that sat on a sleeping person's chest, pressing it down and thus causing bad dreams. Compare Karelian painajaini.
köken: From incubō (“to lie upon, brood over, be a burden to”, verb) + -us (second-declension nominalizing suffix). An alternative formation to third-declension Classical incubō, incubōnis (“incubus, nightmare”, noun).
...Siluanos et Panes, quos uulgo incubos uocant, inprobos saepe extitisse mulieribus et earum appetisse ac peregisse concubitum;
Pilosi, qui Graece Panitae, Latine Incubi appellantur, sive Inui ab ineundo passim cum animalibus.