The same Germanic word – “maron” – gives rise to similar words in many Scandinavian and European languages
It sounds as though it refers to a female horse, but in fact the “) comes from Germanic folklore, in which a “mare” is an evil female spirit or goblin that sits upon a sleeper’s chest, suffocating them and/or giving them bad dreams. Interestingly, in Germanic folklore, it was believed that this “mare” did more than just terrorise human sleepers. It was thought that it rode horses in the night, leaving them sweaty and exhausted next day, and it even wreaked havoc with trees, twisting their branches. (more…)