I learnt this week that there are two words in Russian for dream – сон [son] and мечта (mɛtʃˈt̪a). The former refers to the dreams you have when asleep, while the latter refers to dreams as in hopes, wishes or visions.
If you’re asleep and dreaming, in Russian you ‘see dreams’, or видеть сны [ˈvʲidʲɪtʲ snɨ]. If you’re dreaming of becoming rich or famous, then you use the verb мечтать [mʲɪt͡ɕˈtatʲ]. If you have a bad dream or nightmare though, it’s a кошмар [koʃˈmar], from the French cauchemar (nightmare)
Сон means sleep or dream, and comes from the Proto-Slavic *sъnъ (sleep, dream), from the Proto-Balto-Slavic *supnas (sleep), from Proto-Indo-European *súpnos (dream). This is also the root of words for sleep in North Germanic languages such as Danish (søvn), Icelandic (svefn) and Swedish (sömn), and the archaic English word sweven (a dream, vision) [source].
Мечта comes from the Proto-Slavic *mьčьta (dream), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *meyk- (to shimmer), [source].
Some examples of how they’re used:
- День и ночь меня преследует один и тот же сон = The same dream haunts me day and night
- С тех пор, как ты уехал, мне снится один и тот же сон = I keep having this dream since you left
- У меня есть мечта = I have a dream
- Быть художником – это последняя мечта, которая у Джимми осталась = Being an artist is the last dream Jimmy has
- Даже находиться в этом офисе – это та мечта, ставшая реальностью = Just being in this office is a dream come true
Source: Reverso
Do other languages make this distinction between different kinds of dreams?
Now I’m curious about the construction “один и тот же”.
один и тот же means “one and the same” – один = one, и = and, and тот же = the same identical
In Finnish, there are the words uni (a dream during the night) and unelma (a dream of getting or becoming something). The corresponding verbs are nähdä unta (literally ‘to see a dream’) and unelmoida (to dream of getting something, to daydream).
A nightmare is called painajainen or painajaisuni. Like the English mare, painajainen is a mythological being that torments people during their sleep, specifically sitting on the person’s chest trying to suffocate them. It comes from the verb painaa (to press).
Uni also refers to the act of sleeping. For example saada tarpeeksi unta is ‘to get enough sleep’.