The Word Nightmare Once Had An Even Scarier Meaning

May 2024 ยท 1 minute read

As Merriam-Webster reports, nightmare has a variety of definitions. It is often used literally (defined as "a frightening dream that usually awakens the sleeper"), but is just as commonly employed in a figurative sense: anything from a traffic jam to a hangnail can be considered a "nightmare" of an experience. Merriam-Webster's other definition of the word, however, is by far the most unsettling: "an evil spirit formerly thought to oppress people during sleep." It seems that there used to be a belief in a "mare" of the night, and she was an even less welcome nighttime visitor than Freddy Krueger.

In "Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway," Snorri Sturluson describes the supposed grim fate of King Vanlandi. The king attracted the wrath of his wife, Drifa, who called upon a witch named Huld to fix his wagon. Or, rather, to have him crushed to death by a nightmare.The author relates, "he had hardly gone to sleep when he called out, saying that a nightmare rode him. His men went to him ... when they took hold of his head the nightmare trod on his legs so they nearly broke; and when they seized his feet it pressed down on his head so that he died."

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