different between incubus vs revenant

English

Etymology

From Late Latin incubus, from Latin incub? (“nightmare, one who lies down on the sleeper”), from incub?re (“to lie upon, to hatch”), from in- (“on”) + cub?re (“to lie down”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /???.kj?.b?s/, /??n.kj?.b?s/
• Homophone: incubous

Noun

incubus (plural incubi or incubuses)

1. (mediaeval folklore) An evil spirit supposed to oppress people while asleep, especially to have sex with women as they sleep.

   Antonym: succubus

   Hypernyms: evil spirit, spirit

2. A feeling of oppression during sleep, sleep paralysis; night terrors, a nightmare.

   Synonym: nightmare

   • , vol. I, New York 2001, p.249:

     it increaseth fearful dreams, incubus, night-walking, crying out, and much unquietness  […] .

3. (by extension) Any oppressive thing or person; a burden.
   • August 1935, Clark Ashton Smith, Weird Tales, "The Treader of the Dust":

     Again he felt the impulse of flight: but his body was a dry dead incubus that refused to obey his volition.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 132-3:

     Notions of civic virtue were at that moment changing, in ways which would make of Louis's alleged vices an incubus on the back of the monarchy.

4. (entomology) One of various of parasitic insects, especially subfamily Aphidiinae.

Translations

See also

• incubous
• succubus

Further reading

• incubus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

From Late Latin incubus, from Latin incubo (“nightmare, one who lies down on the sleeper”), from incubare (“to lie upon, to hatch”).

Noun

incubus m (plural incubussen or incubi, diminutive incubusje n)

1. An incubus, evil spirit
2. A nightmare, horrible dream
3. A burden, obsession, yoke

Synonyms

• (nightmare) nachtmerrie

See also

• succubus m

Latin

Etymology

From incub?¹ (“I lie upon”, “I brood over”, “I am a burden to”), perhaps via an alteration of the Classical incub?² (“incubus”, “nightmare”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?in.ku.bus/, [???k?b?s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?in.ku.bus/, [?i?kubus]

Noun

incubus m (genitive incub?); second declension

1. (Late Latin) the nightmare, incubus
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Augustine of Hippo to this entry?)
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Isidore of Seville to this entry?)

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Synonyms

• (nightmare, incubus): incubitor, incub?

Descendants

• Dutch: incubus
• English: incubus
• French: incube
• German: Incubus
• Italian: incubo
• Portuguese: íncubo
• Russian: ?????? (inkúb)
• Spanish: incubo

References

• inc?bus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• INCUBI in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• inc?bus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 801/1
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) , “incubo (genet. -onis), incubus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 524/2

English

Etymology

19th century. From French revenant, the present participle of revenir (“to return”). Compare revenue.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???v?n?nt/

Noun

revenant (plural revenants)

1. Someone who returns from a long absence.
   • 1886, Mrs Lynn Linton, Paston Carew viii, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:

     They would not visit this undesirable revenant with his insolent wealth and discreditable origin.

   • 1895 August 31, Daily News 4/7, as cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, volume 8 part 1, published 1914, page 595:

     The undergraduates, our fogey revenant observes, look much as they did.., in outward aspect.

   • 2008, Andrew Cusack, Wanderer in 19th-Century German Literature, Camden House, ?ISBN, page 91:

     From this moment on, the hero's fate is sealed; an attempt to reestablish himself in human society, though initially successful, inevitably fails. The stone tablet exerts an invincible fascination over the revenant, who becomes so withdrawn that his father implores him: […]

2. A person or thing reborn.
   • 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, page 184:

     Sometimes […] semi-identifications could be made on the basis of names. Henry VII's son Arthur was hailed as a revenant in this way.

3. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.
   • 1837 Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     For granting even that Religion were dead; that it had died, half-centuries ago, with unutterable Dubois; or emigrated lately, to Alsace, with Necklace-Cardinal Rohan; or that it now walked as goblin revenant with Bishop Talleyrand of Autun; yet does not the Shadow of Religion, the Cant of Religion, still linger?

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:ghost

Translations

Adjective

revenant (comparative more revenant, superlative most revenant)

1. Returning.
   • 1988, Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, Random House (2008), page 134:

     On clear nights when the moon was full, she waited for its shining revenant ghost.

Anagrams

• Tavenner, venerant

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.v(?).n??/

Verb

revenant

1. present participle of revenir

Noun

revenant m (plural revenants, feminine revenante)

1. A supernatural being that returns from the dead; a zombie or ghost.
2. A person who returns after a long absence

Further reading

• “revenant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• énervant, vénérant