The Semantic Change of ‘Nightmare’ in Finland
Abstract
In this article, I analyse the semantic change of the Finnish word painajainen, ‘nightmare’ in the early 20th century. In Finnish, as in many other languages, the word ‘nightmare’ did not originally refer to a bad dream, but to a nocturnal attack involving pressure on the chest and a difficulty to breathe – a state today interpreted as sleep paralysis. The vernacular tradition knew the phenomenon as a demonic being that physically pressured its victim and harmed their health. To examine the development of the uses and meanings of the word, I use samples from old literary Finnish starting from the 17th century, archived folklore and lexical collections from late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as newspaper and journal articles from the early 20th century. In
the newspapers of the 1910s and 20s, ‘nightmare’ was chiefly used as a metaphor for a burden or hindrance, referring to the experience of weight. In the 1930s and 40s, it already meant the content of a distressing dream or referred to anxiety. The change was connected with a new understanding of dreams and the growing significance of personal emotions.
Keywords: nightmare; semantic change; newspapers;
folk belief
