The word Nosferatu was not invented for the film, but rather predates it and was used in Western literature to refer to vampires. Bram Stoker used the term in Dracula, which was the basis for F. W. Murnau's film. The word was borrowed by Stoker from Emily Gerard's book The Land Beyond The Forest, where she described Nosferatu as an Eastern European term for a vampire. Linguists have debated the origin of the word, with some suggesting it may be a misunderstanding or misreading of the Romanian word nesuferit or the Greek word nosophoros.