Q Why do we call bad or scary dreams “nightmares”? – D.H., Atlanta, Ga.
A: Because of the similarity in form between the second element of the compound “nightmare” and the noun “mare,” meaning “a female horse,” many people have assumed a connection between the two words. Actually, however, the “-mare” of “nightmare” is a survival of another “mare” found in Old English.
“Mare” was a word in English as early as the 8th century, but it was obsolete by the 18th century. Old English “mare” means “an evil spirit thought to oppress people during sleep.” The compound “nightmare” first appears in Middle English in the 13th century, in a sense much the same as “mare” in Old English. Not until the 16th century was the meaning of “nightmare” extended to refer to a frightening or oppressive dream, probably from the belief or suggestion that such dreams were caused by evil spirits.
Q Is there any difference between “extemporaneous” and “impromptu”? – L.H., Lexington, Ky.
A: When the subject is public speaking and the two words are being distinguished, “extemporaneous” means “carefully prepared but delivered without notes”; “impromptu” means “composed or uttered without previous preparation.” This distinction in meaning is observed not only in public-speaking classrooms but in the wider world as well, as can be seen in the following passages found in our files: “He spoke without a note, and he is a superb extemporaneous speaker”; “It might be misleading to say that these Churchill talks were ‘impromptu’ – for it is doubtful that he was ever unprepared for a speech.”
Teachers of speech consider the distinction between “extemporaneous” and “impromptu” an unbreakable rule. In many cases, however, these two words are used interchangeably. In its oldest sense, “extemporaneous” is simply synonymous with “impromptu,” and its use in describing off-the-cuff remarks is both common and correct. An example of “extemporaneous” in this sense comes from “The Case of the Stuttering Bishop” by Erle Stanley Gardner: “… the ready wit of a detective who has had to resort to extemporaneous prevarications on numerous occasions.”
This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Readers may send questions to Merriam-Webster’s Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102.
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