Succubus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the film Succubus, see Succubus (film). For usage of the succubus in popular culture, see The succubus in fiction. For succubi in the Dungeons & Dragons game, see Succubus (Dungeons & Dragons). For the South Park episode, see The Succubus.
In Western medieval legend, a succubus (plural succubi) is a demon who takes the form of a beautiful human female to seduce men (especially monks) in dreams to have sexual intercourse. They draw energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death of the victim. From mythology and fantasy, Lilith and the Lilin (Jewish), Lilitu (Sumerian) and Rusalka (Slavic) are, in redactive Christian fables (folktales not part of official Christian theology), considered succubi.
According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Witches' Hammer", succubi would collect semen from the men they slept with, which incubi would then use to impregnate women. Children so begotten were supposed to be more susceptible to the influence of demons.
In some beliefs the succubi would morph into the Incubus with its newly collected semen ready to impregnate their victims. This was to account for the fact that demons could not reproduce naturally, however the incubus could impregnate women.
From the 16th century, the carving of a succubus on the outside of an inn indicated that the establishment also operated as a brothel.
Contents |
[edit] Etymology
The word comes from an alteration of the Late Latin succuba meaning "strumpet". The word itself is derived from the Latin prefix "sub-" which means "below, underneath", and the verb "cubo" which means "I lie". So a succubus is someone who lies under another person. Whereas an incubus (latin "in-" stand in this case for "on top") is someone who lies on top of another person.[1]
Mare was also a term for the sighing, suffocative panting, or an intercepted utterance, with a sense of pressure across the chest, which occurs during sleep. These symptoms were also thought to be an incubus (or succubus), an evil preternatural being, causing nightmares and/or nocturnal emissions. This phenomenon is now thought to be an experience of sleep paralysis.
[edit] Appearance
The appearance of succubi varies just about as much as that of demons in general; there is no single definitive depiction. However, they are almost universally depicted as alluring women with unearthly beauty, often with demonic batlike wings; occasionally, they will be given other demonic features (horns, a tail with a spaded tip, snakelike eyes, hooves, fangs, etc). Occasionally they appear simply as an attractive woman in dreams that the victim cannot seem to get off their mind. They lure males and in some cases, the male has seemed to fall "in love" with her. Even out of the dream she will not leave his mind. She will remain there slowly draining energy from him.
[edit] Middle Eastern belief
A Middle Eastern version of the succubus known as "um al duwayce" (أٌم الدويس) portrays this succubus as a beautiful, alluringly scented woman who wanders the desert on the hooves of a donkey.While other forms of the succubus participate in sexual intercourse to collect semen and become impregnated, this particular succubus is instead a judge of character and exacts revenge on those to commit adultry. She attempts to lure these men to have intercourse with her, at which time sharp razors within her vagina slice the partner's penis, leaving him in agonizing pain.Having rendered the man helpless, she turns into her true form and kills him; some believe that she eats him alive.
[edit] In modern times
Experiences of apparent supernatural visitations at night can sometimes occur as effects of hypnagogia. To this day, nocturnal emissions and other sexual occurrences or mysteries are, in some cultures and circles, blamed on a demon of sin such as a succubus.
- See also The succubus in fiction
[edit] See also
- Charmed episode She's a Man Baby, a Man!
[edit] References
- ^ Dream, Online Etymology Dictionary, November 2001. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
