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: Borrowed from French cauchemar, from Middle French cauchemare, from Old French cauquemare. First element from Latin calcō (“to trample, tread on”); second element from Middle Dutch mare (“phantom, spirit, nightmare”), from Proto-Germanic *marǭ (“nightmare, incubus”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”). See cauchemar.