pnigalion

noun

1. A nocturnal monster in Ancient Greece that would choke its victims; incubus; nightmare.

   historical, uncountable

   Because the Greeks considered being choked or strangled to be one consequence of a night-mare attack, the entity was also called pnigalion (“throttler”).

2. sleep paralysis; nightmare

   archaic, uncountable

   Incubus (synonyms, Pnigalion, ephialtes, epibole ) .— It is an elementary form of epilepsy .

Where it comes from

From New Latin pnīgalion, from Ancient Greek πνῑγαλίων (pnīgalíōn, “nightmare”), from πνῑ́γω (pnī́gō, “to throttle, strangle”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry pnigalion (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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