# nightmare, daydream



## Outsider

Inspired by my own recent thread about the words "sleep" and "dream", I thought I'd ask what are the words for "nightmare" and "daydream" (either nouns or verbs) in everyone's language. Do they have a literal meaning?

Thanks.


In Portuguese: 

Nightmare: *pesadelo*, from _pesado_, heavy (though _pesadelo_ itself doesn't mean anything literally). There is no specific verb; we just say "to have a nightmare".

To daydream: *sonhar acordado*, literally "to dream awake". There is no specific noun.


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## Etcetera

Saludos Outsider.

The Russian equivalents of these words would be the following:
nightmare - кошмар.
daydream - грёза (or plural - грёзы, it's used oftener) or сон наяву.


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## Jana337

Czech: 
nightmare - noční můra (surprisingly a literal translation),
to daydream - "snít s otevřenýma očima" (to dream with open eyes)


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## elpoderoso

The English term Nightmare refers to the Mare or Mara (various similar words in the Germanic languages) which is a kind of demon which sits on the victim at night. 
Outsider, I don't know, but maybe this sitting on the victim bears a relation to pesadelo and pesadilla.


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## betulina

Hi! In Catalan we've got:

nightmare - *malson* (literally, "badsleep" - curiously, we don't say "malsomni", which would be more logic as it translates "baddream", bearing in mind that we have different  words for "sleep" and "dream". I've looked it up at the dictionary and it says that "malson" refers both to a "bad dream" and to a "bad sleep", so it turns out that in this sense we do have the same word for these concepts!   However, it is much more used as a "bad dream".)

The verb here is just "tenir un malson" - to have a nightmare.

to daydream - *som(n)iar despert* - the same as in Portuguese.


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## gao_yixing

Hello
Chinese:
nightmare:噩梦 or 恶梦 （e meng)
daydream:白日梦（bai ri meng)
Regards,
Anthony


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## Frank06

Hi,


Outsider said:


> Inspired by my own recent thread about the words "sleep" and "dream", I thought I'd ask what are the words for "nightmare" and "daydream" (either nouns or verbs) in everyone's language. Do they have a literal meaning?



In *Dutch*:
- de nachtmerrie: the nightmare
The Dutch word obviously has the same etymology as the English one, but the word 'mare' got re-interpreted by folk etymology as 'merrie' (=female horse).
(een nachtmerrie hebben - to have a nightmare)

- de dagdroom: the day dream
(dagdromen: to daydream)


Groetjes,

Frank


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## elpoderoso

Hello Frank, the same confusion also occurs in English with Mare being a female horse.


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## ameana7

In Turkish

Nightmare: Kabus, karabasan

Daydream: Hayal
To daydream: Hayal kurmak.

Unfortunately both "kabus and hayal" were borrowed from Arabic, so they haven't a specific meaning for Turkish people. 
On the other hand "Karabasan", which is used for "nightmare", is originally Turkish and it means something like "making black or covering everywhere black".  
Actually it is my translation, it is open to discuss.


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## Lemminkäinen

Norwegian:

nightmare: *mareritt*, 'mare ride/race'; apparently it's from the Norse _mara_, which is, as mentioned, a female demon sitting on people's chest.
daydream: *dagdrøm* (bm), *dagdraum* (nn) - means the same as in English.


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## robbie_SWE

Romanian: 

_nightmare_ = *coşmar*
_daydream_ = *reverie* 

Swedish: 

_nightmare_ = *mardröm*
_daydream_ = *dagdröm*

 robbie


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## Maja

In Serbian: 

nightmare - noćna mora (ноћна мора); košmar (кошмар)
daydream - sanjarenje (сањарење) - maštanje (маштање)​


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## Honour

ameana7 said:


> In Turkish
> 
> Nightmare: Kabus, karabasan
> 
> Daydream: Hayal
> To daydream: Hayal kurmak.
> 
> Unfortunately both "kabus and hayal" were borrowed from Arabic, so they haven't a specific meaning for Turkish people.
> On the other hand "Karabasan", which is used for "nightmare", is originally Turkish and it means something like "making black or covering everywhere black".
> Actually it is my translation, it is open to discuss.


All the definitions are correct for sure in terms of dictionary definition.
However, in daily life the term _karabasan_ is used to describe the state of human body in which a person is conscious but cannot move.That's a transition state between sleep and awakeness which is not expected to occur under normal circumstances. Afaik, brain technically shuts down (paralyzes intentionally) motor neurons in order to avoid undesired actions during dreaming. In this state, our body is still paralyzed but our conscious is open.


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## DearPrudence

In French (as you must know)

*a nightmare: un cauchemar*
my dictionary says: from Old French _caucher_, fouler (tread (I suppose)) & Dutch _mare_, ghost)
No idea until today where it came from

*to daydream: dormir éveillé*


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## heidita

In *German* we have:

*nightmare =  Alptraum*

Alp = gespenstisches Wesen (ghost)

Traum = dream

*Daydream = Tagesträumer, Wolkenschieber*

*Tagesträumer *

Tag = day

Träumer = dreamer

*Wolkenschieber*

Wolke = cloud

schieber = push


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## Outsider

DearPrudence said:


> *a nightmare: un cauchemar*
> my dictionary says: from Old French _caucher_, fouler (tread (I suppose)) & Dutch _mare_, ghost)
> No idea until today where it came from


Ah, enfin le français ! Avez-vous noté que plusieurs langues l'ont emprunté leur mot pour « cauchemar » ?


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## ronanpoirier

Hungarian:
Nightmare = Lidércnyomás. It's made my the words "lidérc" meaning "mare" + "nyomás" meaning "impression". *My friend just told me the most usual word for it is "rémálom".*
 For "daydream" I have found "abrandozás" and "álmodozás". Both have a verb related to it (abrandozni & álmodozni) and both have the sense of "to fantasize"...


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## Frank06

Hi,


DearPrudence said:


> *a nightmare: un cauchemar*
> my dictionary says: from Old French _caucher_, fouler (tread (I suppose)) & Dutch _mare_, ghost). No idea until today where it came from



1375, _cauquemare_; 1564, _cauchemare_; 1677 _cauchemar_.
Apparantly it is a Picardian word. The first part comes from _cauchier _(presser), probably the result of a mix from OFr _cauchier_ and OPic. _cauquier_, from Lat. _calcare_.
  The second part has been discussed already.

Groetjes,
Frank


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## valy822

*Italian*:

nightmare = incubo
daydream = sogno ad occhi aperti


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## Thomas1

In Polish we use:
nightmare –n.* koszmar *; 
Daydream –n.* marzenie*

As for the verbal form of nightmare we would use :
v.
śnić koszmary = to dream nightmares; this is the version we use most frequently (we use the plural)

mieć koszmary = to have nightmares



Outsider said:


> Ah, enfin le français ! Avez-vous noté que plusieurs langues l'ont emprunté leur mot pour « cauchemar » ?


J’inclinerais à penser que nous avons emprounté le _koszmar_ à français. 
Et voilà je viens d'y chercher et mon dictionnaire des emprunts corrobore que _koszmar _vient de français (_couchemar_). Je pense que le mot russe aussi vient de français.

Tom


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## Ilmo

*Finnish:*
nightmare = painajainen
daydream = unelma


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## robbie_SWE

Thomas1 said:


> J’inclinerais à penser que nous avons emprounté le _koszmar_ à français.
> Et voilà je viens d'y chercher et mon dictionnaire des emprunts corrobore que _koszmar _vient de français (_couchemar_). Je pense que le mot russe aussi vient de français.
> Tom


 
Et aussi le mot roumain vient de la langue française! 

 robbie


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## elroy

Arabic:

nightmare: كابوس (_kaabuus_) - simply a word for "nightmare."  It may be related to other words with the same root, but it doesn't have another literal meaning that has given rise to "nightmare." 

daydream: حلم يقظة (_Hulm yaqadha_) - literally "dream of wakefulness"


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## Outsider

*Elroy*, noticing the Italian word _incubo_, I wonder if the Arabic one has anything to do with Latin _incubus_.


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## huelin

heidita said:


> *Daydream = Tagesträumer, Wolkenschieber*


 
Don't you think it is more common to say "Tagträumer" in stead of "Tagesträumer"?

By the way, I've never heard the expression "Wolkenschieber" - which of course doesn't mean that it doesn't exist...


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## amikama

Hebrew:

nightmare = *סיוט* (_siyut_) or *חלום בלהות* (_halom balahot_, literally "dream of horrors"). 

daydream = *חלום בהקיץ* (_halom be-hakits_, "dream while awake")


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## parakseno

robbie_SWE said:


> Romanian:
> 
> _nightmare_ = *coşmar*
> _daydream_ = *reverie*
> 
> Swedish:
> 
> _nightmare_ = *mardröm*
> _daydream_ = *dagdröm*
> 
> robbie



Of course, Robbie is right (well, at least the Romanian part, don't know much about the Swedish one, though). I just wanted to add that Romanian also has 
daydream - a visa cu ochii deschişi
(similar to what Jana said for czech.)


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## kewongjapan

In Malay, 
nightmare : mimpi buruk (lit: dream bad)
daydream : termenong (daydream)


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## robbie_SWE

parakseno said:


> Of course, Robbie is right (well, at least the Romanian part, don't know much about the Swedish one, though). I just wanted to add that Romanian also has
> daydream - a visa cu ochii deschişi
> (similar to what Jana said for czech.)


 
Yes, and similar to the Italian as Valy822 stated in her post! 

 robbie


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## Outsider

In Portuguese, you can also say _sonhar de olhos abertos_ (to dream with one's eyes open).


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## samanthalee

gao_yixing said:


> Hello
> Chinese:
> nightmare:噩梦 or 恶梦 （e meng)
> daydream:白日梦（bai ri meng)
> Regards,
> Anthony


 
Daydream in Chinese literally translates to "White Sun dream."

Nightmare has 2 versions. The more common one 恶梦 （e meng) means "horrible dream."
The less common one 梦魇 (meng yan) means "nightmare dream". It's usually used to describe horrible experiences rather than to describe actual nighmares.


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## yasemin

ameana7 said:


> In Turkish
> 
> Nightmare: Kabus, karabasan
> 
> Daydream: Hayal
> To daydream: Hayal kurmak.
> 
> Unfortunately both "kabus and hayal" were borrowed from Arabic, so they haven't a specific meaning for Turkish people.


In Turkish you can express a sentence composed of ten words in most European languages by just one word, however it is still a language having a little number of words. So, generally you have to use several words for a term, for example, in english.

Also in this case, I think that we can try to think of something longer:

nightmare : kötü düş (lit. bad dream)
daydream: gündüz düşü (lit. daydream  )

Even if the others, kabus and hayal are more common as the words taken during the Ottoman Empire, like many others, these are used widespread as well. I specially like the second.


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## irene.acler

valy822 said:


> *Italian*:
> 
> nightmare = incubo
> daydream = sogno ad occhi aperti



I want to add the verbal form of "sogno ad occhi aperti", which is "*sognare *ad occhi aperti".


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## 0stsee

*Indonesian*

nightmare: mimpi buruk (dream awful)

daydream: bengong


Mark


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## Marga H

Thomas1 said:


> In Polish we use:
> nightmare –n.* koszmar *;
> Daydream –n.* marzenie*
> 
> As for the verbal form of nightmare we would use :
> v.
> śnić koszmary = to dream nightmares; this is the version we use most frequently (we use the plural)
> 
> mieć koszmary = to have nightmares
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tom


 
You can also say:
to daydream - *śnić na jawie*


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## imbay

In thai
Nightmare = ฝันร้าย ( făn ráai )
Daydream = ฝันกลางวัน ( făn glaang wan )


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## lazarus1907

In Spanish:

Nightmare: *Pesadilla- *Verb:* Tener pesadillas*
To daydream: *soñar despierto / ensoñar* -*Noun: *Ensueño*, 
But you knew these already for sure, right?

* Not exactly the same, but close.
The word íncubo is there, but it is obsolete.


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## anarandi

Hello everyone:

In Spanish, we say:

"pesadilla" (noun) = nightmare 
"tener una pesadilla" (verb + object)

"soñar despierto" (verb + complement) = to daydream, which literally means to dream while you are awake.

Que sueñen con los angelitos = This is a phrase said to children when they go to bed. It means you wish they have happy dreams and dream of the angels.

Ana


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## CatStar

hey there

In Irish 

*nightmare* is _tromluí_ which literally means heavy sleep
*to daydream* is _bheith ag aislingeacht_ 
and *daydream* as a noun is _taibhreamh na súl oscailte _which literally means dream with eyes open

Slán libh!

Cat


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## kimchi39

In Korean,

nightmare - 악몽
daydream - 백일몽


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## Tim~!

By amazing coincidence, the first message in my inbox today is a 'word of the day' thing from lernu.net, which is an Esperanto thing.  The word for today was sonĝo, which is a dream!

Much as French has both _songer_ and _rêver_ to mean 'dream', so does Esperanto.  _Sonĝi_ is the apparition of pictures and scenes to a _sleeping_ person.  When a person is awake, the word is _revi_, so a daydream or aspiration is a _revo_.

A nightmare is a _koŝmaro_ (cf French _cauchemar_) or either _inkubo_ (cf Latin _incubus_) or inkubsonĝo.

Interesting thread.


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## Tim~!

Outsider said:


> Ah, enfin le français ! Avez-vous noté que plusieurs langues l'ont emprunté leur mot pour « cauchemar » ?



Oui, y compris l'Espéranto!


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## Outsider

Tim~! said:


> Much as French has both _songer_ and _revi_ to mean 'dream', so Does Esperanto.  _Son?i_ is the apparition of pictures and scenes to a _sleeping_ person.  When a person is awake, the word is _revi_, so a daydream or aspiration is a _revo_.


Vous vouliez écrire "rêve", n'est-ce pas ?


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## Tim~!

Outsider said:


> Vous voudriez écrire "rêve", n'est-ce pas ?


Tout-à-fait!  Ça m'apprendra réflechir avant de appuyer sur 'Submit Reply'.  Merci du corrigé.


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## Outsider

Incidentally, how do you say "sleep" in Esperanto?


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## Flaminius

0stsee said:


> *Indonesian*
> 
> nightmare: mimpi buruk (dream awful)
> daydream: bengong


In Bahasa Melayu (Malaysian),
nightmare: mimpi buruk
daydream: angan-angan


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## kusurija

Lithuanian: 
nightmare - košmaras
daydream - dienos sapnas, but we simply say (e.g.): einu ir _sapnuoju - I dream_ while going. Or use Latin: somnolence..


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## zenitude

Outsider said:


> Ah, enfin le français ! Avez-vous noté que plusieurs langues l'ont emprunté leur mot pour « cauchemar » ?


 
Daydream se traduit par rêverie...
J'ai vu qu'en Roumain, on emploie le même mot, mais sans l'accent circonflexe


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## alex.raf

*Persian:*
Nightmare: (n) *Kāboos *کابوس - (v) Kāboos didan کابوس دیدن
Daydream: (n)* Rowyā-pardāzi *رؤیا پردازی - (v) Rowyā-pardāzi kardan رؤیا پردازی کردن


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*:

a nightmare = _inkubsonĝo_ or _koŝmaro_
a daydream = _revo_ or, more precisely, _maldorma revo_


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## Alijsh

alex.raf said:


> *Persian:*
> Nightmare: (n) *Kāboos *کابوس - (v) Kāboos didan کابوس دیدن
> Daydream: (n)* Rowyā-pardāzi *رؤیا پردازی - (v) Rowyā-pardāzi kardan رؤیا پردازی کردن


For daydream, I think we have a commoner word: *xiyâlbâfi* (خیالبافی). Literally: phantom-weaving. Am I right? By the way, we can say: *rowyâbâfi* (رویابافی), *xiyâlpardâzi* (خیالپردازی). Persian is really generative


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## alex.raf

You're right. 
Thanks for the correction


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## Woland

Romanian
Nightmare- Coşmar
Daydreem - A visa cu ochii deschişi


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## Gnosi

In Greek nightmare is Efialtis  Εφιάλτης I'm not sure but I think it is called like this because of Efialtis the person who betrayed Leonidas (the ancient Spartan king to  his enemies at Thermopyles) and Daydream is Oniropolo (ονειροπολώ)( a verb meaning making dreams)
The expression is Βλέπω εφιάλτη = I see a nightmare or έχω εφιάλτη = I have a nightmare


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## apmoy70

Gnosi said:


> In Greek nightmare is Efialtis  Εφιάλτης I'm not sure but I think it is called like this because of Efialtis the person who betrayed Leonidas (the ancient Spartan king to  his enemies at Thermopyles)


Actually it's the other way around, *«Ἐφιάλτης» Ĕpʰiáltēs* was a common first name for males since Homer, folk-etymologised by the ancients as a derivation of the deponent v. *«ἐφάλλομαι» ĕpʰállŏmai̯* --> _to throw oneself onto somebody_ whence the name «Ἐφιάλτης» means _the assaulting one_.
Originally the name described a daemon (a lesser deity) associated with digestion problems called *«Ἠπιάλτης» Ēpĭáltēs* (masc.), from *«ἠπίαλος» ēpíalŏs* (masc.) --> _ague fever_ (possibly a taboo paraphrase from *«ἤπιος» ḗpiŏs* (masc.) --> _friendly, gentle, kind, mild, soothing_ < PIE *h₂e-h₂p-i- _friendly_ cf Skt. आप्त (āpta), _friend_).
«Ἠπιάλτης > 'Επιάλτης > 'Εφιάλτης» (folk-etymological reshaping).


Gnosi said:


> ...and Daydream is Oniropolo (ονειροπολώ)( a verb meaning making dreams)
> The expression is Βλέπω εφιάλτη = I see a nightmare or έχω εφιάλτη = I have a nightmare


Daydreaming is *«ονειροπόληση»* [ɔ.ni.ɾɔˈpɔ.li.si] (fem.) < Koine 3rd declension deverbative fem. noun *«ὀνειροπόλησις» ŏneĭ̯rŏpólēsis* (nom. sing.), *«ὀνειροπολήσεως» ŏnei̯rŏpŏlḗsĕōs* (gen. sing.) --> _dreaming_ < Classical v. *«ὀνειροπολέω/-πολῶ» ŏnei̯rŏpŏléō* (uncontracted)/*ŏnei̯rŏpŏlô* (contracted) --> _to be haunted in dreams_ < Classical masc. *«ὄνειρος» ónei̯rŏs* + Classical v. *«πέλω» pélō*.
To daydream (v.) is *«ονειροπολώ»* [ɔ.ni.ɾɔ.pɔˈlɔ], daydreamer is *«ονειροπόλος»* [ɔ.ni.ɾɔˈpɔ.lɔs] (masc. & fem.).


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