numen
IPA: nˈumʌn
noun
- A divinity, especially a local or presiding god.
- An influence or phenomenon at once mystical and transcendant.
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Examples of "numen" in Sentences
- “numinous” from the Latin word numen, which denoted a supernatural nonpersonalized being.
- “It begins with the awful …” — i.e. with the monstrum — “and then finds comfort” — i.e. in the numen.
- They supposed an art, a power, or a wisdom, which they called numen, in creatures the most destitute of understanding.
- Ruptura numen: In The Bacchae by Euripedes, we have the monstrum dicta of Pentheus the tyrant, King of Tears, who has denied the god Dionysus his due.
- The translation has often given cause for dispute, as 'numen' is a word that may be translated as vague-sounding Providence, as a rather non-commital Deity or as the strict and fierce monotheistic God.
- Where tremulum and staccatum are most applicable when it comes to character motivation, it should be noted, numen and monstrum may well be constructed entirely from the reader's disposition/conviction.
- For it was an attempt to supersede the ancient religious life of that State by _externa superstitio, prava religio_ -- _prava_, because _deorum numen praetenditur sceleribus_; and hence, as Livy expresses it in the admirable speech put into the mouth of the consul, the Roman gods themselves felt their _numen_ to be contaminated. [
- Where events carry modalities of conviction or disposition — “must/must-not happen” or “should/should-not happen” — it may be more useful to treat this a strong/weak distinction, and take the flavour of the quirk as a product of its positive or negative loading: that which we revere may be termed a numen; that which we abhor may be termed a monstrum.
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