scarletmorning. Language nerd has taken over (Reply)

I finally found the article again where I read about the word origin of "nightmare". It caught my eye because it is in a way very similar to the origin of the German word "Alptraum".

The origin of both words is folklore. People (both English and German) believed that nightmares were caused by evil spirits (incubi or succubi, an Alp/Alb) that sat on the sleeper´s chest (because you have a stifling feeling in your chest when you're having a nightmare). An incubus is a male monster and succubus the female version and both are known to evoke sexual feelings in their victims. (And they suck out their victims´ souls while seducing them. Soul for Sex.)

Now, Alp/Alb is gender neutral. And can be a more general word for evil spirits of this type. But the English equivalent uses "mare". Apart from my confusion about how you can make the mindjump from "female evil spirits who steals your soul via sex" to "mare", I'm wondering, why the female? Why did they not choose "stallion"? Where men more often haunted by nightmares? Were the people just being misogynistic again? (Probably.)

And I digressed. Because I just noticed the "mare" thing. I was mostly pleasantly surprised that both words have the same origin.

Pointless post is pointless.