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A nightmare is あくむ, which in kanji seems straightforward: 悪夢 (bad dream);
however, "to have a nightmare" is うなされる, which has its own special kanji, 魘,
which apparently is a verb since it's followed by sareru.

Is there overlap between these two expressions for "nightmare", 悪夢 and 魘? Can
悪夢 be turned into a verb to have the same meaning as うなされる, or is this
unnatural?
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word-choice
うなされる vs. あくむ, are they related?
うなされる just means "to suffer (and make noise or sleep-talk while sleeping)".
Its cause (marked with に) is typically a nightmare, but it can be something
else like high fever
([熱にうなされる](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E7%86%B1%E3%81%AB%E3%81%86%E3%81%AA%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B)).
There is nothing redundant about saying 悪夢にうなされる.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xFhajm.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xFhajm.png)

I personally did not know the kanji 魘, and I doubt more than 10% of native
speakers can read it.
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> Can 悪夢 be turned into a verb to have the same meaning as うなされる, or is this
> unnatural?

In short, "no".

There is no verb form for 悪夢. The closest I can think of is 悪夢【あくむ】を見【み】る
(literally "to see a bad dream").

Meanwhile, 魘【うな】される means "to groan in one's sleep as if in anguish". It
doesn't actually have anything specifically to do with dreams, as noted also
by naruto.

> うなされる vs. あくむ, are they related?

Also in a word, "no".

# 悪夢【あくむ】

This is a word ultimately borrowed from Chinese. It's first attested in
Japanese during the Muromachi period (1336–1573), per the Kokugo Dai Jiten
entry [here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%82%AA%E5%A4%A2-140778). It's a
compound of 悪【あく】 ("bad") + 夢【む】 ("dream").

# 魘【うな】される

This appears to be a purely-Japanese term, not a borrowing. It is first cited
by the Kokugo Dai Jiten entry
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AD%98-2011574) to a kabuki play script
from 1703.

## Derivation of 魘【うな】される

Let's look a bit deeper at うなされる. This word is a bit odd, and its form raises
some questions.

_(This gets long. Jump to the end if you get impatient. )_

### Probably a compound

After digging around in a few dictionaries ([魘される entry in Daijisen at
Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AD%98%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B-441079),
[魘 entry in Kokugo Dai Jiten at
Kotobank](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%AD%98-2011574), [うなされる page at
Weblio](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%AD%98%E3%81%95%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B)),
I was left frustrated: none of these include any derivation.

I finally found that my local copy of Daijirin includes a note that the う on
the front is probably the same う in 唸【うな】る ("to howl, to growl; to moan, to
groan; to grunt").

> 〔「う」は「うなる」などの「う」と同源【どうげん】か〕  
>  (the _u_ might be cognate with the _u-_ in _unaru_ , etc.)

Daijirin has this additional note at 唸【うな】る:

> 〔擬声語「う」に「鳴る」が付いてできた語〕  
>  (a word derived by adding 鳴【な】る ("to make a sound") to the onomatopoeia _u_
> )

A look a the [うなる page at
Weblio](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%86%E3%81%AA%E3%82%8B) gives us
this note from Daijisen, partially confirming the Daijirin notes:

> 《「う」は擬声語》  
>

If so, the basic underlying meaning of the verb would be "to go _oooo_ , to
make an _oooo_ sound: to moan". The main difference in meaning between うなる and
うなされる is that うなされる seems to refer specifically to the sense "to moan while
asleep and in apparent anguish".

All the dictionaries also show that うなされる is the modern 下【しも】一段【いちだん】活用【かつよう】
("lower monograde conjugation") pattern that arose regularly from the older
下【しも】二段【にだん】活用【かつよう】 form うなさる.

Historically then, we have う (onomatopoeia for the noise made) + なさる. This なさる
is a little odd.

### Odd form

うなさる could be analyzed as う (onomatopoeia for the noise made) + なさる (honorific
for "to do, to make"), itself a polite and honorific form of なす, an old
synonym for する and the transitive / causative counterpart to なる ("to become,
to come into being"). But it's not clear why this verb would be built using
the honorific なさる.

That said, the earlier form of the modern passive ending _-areru_ was indeed
just _-aru_ with this same 下【しも】二段【にだん】 pattern. And for that matter, just as
in modern Japanese, the passive was used to construct honorifics via the
globally-common technique of making things more polite through indirection --
なさる is _both_ a passive and an honorific form of なす.

### Passive?

As mentioned in a comment, うなされる looks like a passive form, with the regular
passive _-areru_ ending. However, there is no verb うなす, nor any verb うぬ (for
which うなされる might be a causative-passive). As an alternative analysis, this
might be うな + される ("to be _una_ -ed"), but there is no fitting noun _una_ that
might fit: there is 項【うな】 ("back of the neck: the nape"), 鰻【うな】 (short for
unagi: "eel"), and うな as an ancient contraction of 汝【うぬ】は ("you" as the
topic), and none of these make sense.

### Usage and conjecture

The common usage example I see in various dictionaries is 「悪夢【あくむ】にうなされる」,
which looks an awful lot like a passive construction.

The [blog linked in naruto's comment](http://kokugojuku.com/blog2271) also
discusses the possibility that this word is a passive form, but their analysis
goes in a direction I don't quite agree with, suggesting that "oni" or
"ghosts" would be the active agents of hypothetical verb うなす, and that the
sleeping moaner is being うなす-ed by the "ghosts".

I explored the idea that うなされる is the passive form of unattested うなす, itself
from う (onomatopoeia) + なす ("to do, to make"), from the sense that なす was
sometimes used in ways that come close to being a causative: "to make someone
do something". うなされる could thus be parsed as "to be made to make an _oooo_
sound: to be made to moan or groan". However, further research into なす usage
patterns seems to rule this out.

Another possibility is that this is from うなる ("to moan, to groan") as the
regular causative-passive うならされる, with the medial -ら- dropping out for some
reason.

### Ultimately, mysterious

うなされる sure looks like a passive, and it takes the に construction in a similar
way. But it remains uncertain. Without further textual evidence of some
earlier form, we're left with guesswork, and the verb's true derivation lies
still hidden in history.
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