Etymology

sandman

S1A1N1D2M3A1N1

Today it means: A figure that brings sleep and dreams by sprinkling magical sand into people's eyes. Full definition →

First used early 19th c.German Sandmann
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The story

  1. German · calque ofSandmann
  2. English todaysandman

From sand + -man. The mythological sense may be from German Sandmann, Sandmännchen, as it is apparently first attested in English in the context of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s novella The Sandman (1816). The German is attested in the relevant sense since at least the mid-18th century.

First known use, by meaning

  • from early 19th c. A figure that brings sleep and dreams by sprinkling magical sand into people's eyes.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.