mara

noun

1. (European)A nightmare; a spectre or wraith-like creature in Germanic and particularly Scandinavian folklore; a female demon who torments people in sleep by crouching on their chests or stomachs, or by causing terrifying visions.

   “The corpus of related texts tells us that within rural society it was not improbable for your neighbour's envy of your fine cattle to take the form of a mara.”

2. A type of god that prevents accomplishment or success.
3. Any malicious or evil spirit.

   “The mara is the spirit that causes illness, accidents, and mishaps. The only protection against it is another mara who befriends a person or a group. A mara who becomes friendly is called a gunik. This transformation occurs when a mara comes to a person in a dream and states a desire to be friendly. But there are deceitful maras who pretend to be friendly, yet will betray the person who trusts them.”

4. Any caviid rodent of the genus Dolichotis, common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina.

   “Maras have a white patch of fur on the rump that they flash when running, an adaptation they share with several species of deer and antelopes.”

   “Although only Dolichotis, the Patagonian mara, is strongly cursorial, all caviids have certain features typical of cursorial mammals[…].”

   “Maras (Dolichotis patagonum) are cursorial and prefer open areas with low vegetation for breeding and more barren sites for construction of communal dens (Taber and Macdonald 1992; Baldi 2007).”

5. (US)A Latin American criminal gang.
6. A member of a predominantly agricultural tribe of southern Assam and western Burma.

name

1. A Maran Australian Aboriginal prefixing language spoken in southeastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
2. (rare)A female given name from Hebrew.

   “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”

3. A surname from Irish.
4. (Hinduism)The Hindu god of death; opposite of Kama.
5. The Buddhist demon who tempts people away from enlightenment
6. The Slavic goddess of winter and death; Marena or Marzanna.
7. A river in Tanzania and Kenya.

   “In the dry season, when the Mara becomes narrower and shallower, certain stretches of it become especially thick with hippos—and their dung.”