| 释义 |
numinous, a.|ˈnjuːmɪnəs|
[f. as numinal a.: see -ous.]
Of or pertaining to a numen; divine, spiritual, revealing or suggesting the presence of a god; inspiring awe and reverence. Also absol. or as n.
1647Ward Simp. Cobler 66 The Will of a King is very numinous; it hath a kinde of vast universality in it. 1864R. S. Hawker Quest of Sangraal 17 An Orient Cruse, Fulfill'd, and running o'er, with Numynous Light. 1923J. W. Harvey tr. R. Otto's Idea of Holy ii. 6 For this purpose I adopt a word coined from the Latin numen. Omen has given us ominous, and there is no reason why from numen we should not similarly form a word ‘numinous’. I shall speak..of a unique ‘numinous’ category of value and of a definitely ‘numinous’ state of mind. Ibid. iii. 11 The numinous is thus felt as objective and outside the self. 1934W. Temple Nature, Man & God i. 23 What Otto speaks of as the ‘Mysterium tremendum’, the quality in the object of religion which he describes as ‘Numinous’, is just that before which we do not reason but bow. 1941G. G. Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism 59 The key-word of the numinous, the Kedushah, the trishagion from Isaiah vi, 3, in which the ecstasy of the mystic culminates: holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. 1951J. L. Adams tr. Tillich's Protestant Era p. xxxix, Protestants..often are unaware of the numinous power inherent in genuine symbols. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Oct. 602/5 He now urges us..to transfer finally our more numinous speculations from the altar to the earth, to the observable universe and to all its children. 1962Listener 17 May, Simple English exchanges that caught the suburban yet numinous quality of the original French. 1967G. Steiner Lang. & Silence 62, I want to draw attention to..the recurrent acknowledgement by poets..that music is the deeper, more numinous code, that language..aspires to the condition of music. 1969New Scientist 17 Apr. 114/1 There is a growing revolt of young people against what they call materialism..because they want to take seriously the experience of the inner life—in particular, experience of the ‘numinous’ and of ‘immortal longings’. 1972Times Lit. Suppl. 31 Mar. 365/4 Homer reveals the world of gods as well as the world of men, both in epic verse, and this difference from later, more numinous writers has many consequences. 1972S. W. Sykes in Cox & Dyson 20th-Cent. Mind II. vi. 154 [Rudolf] Otto defined numinous as the non-rational mystery behind religion, which is both awesome and fascinating. It is, he asserted, the permanent and essential feature of all religion, including Christianity.
Hence numiˈnosity, ˈnuminousness, the condition or state of being numinous; also † numinously adv.
1650B. Discollim. 26 They shall prove such Jupiters as to fall a thundring and lightning so numinously over our heads. 1932R. A. Knox Broadcast Minds iv. 70 What is the proper object around which the idea of ‘numinousness’ ought to cling? 1936Essays & Stud. XXI. 132 The poet's own religious fervour, mysticism, or (if you will) poetic ‘numinosity’. 1951Theology LIV. 233 Somehow he manages again and again to take from the Gospel its fascination, its haunting power over the imagination, its numinosity. 1962Listener 29 Nov. 940/1 Nelly, the hag, the witch, the personification of Corvey's incipient madness, lost some of her numinousness in being acted out. 1963Times 29 May 11/5 If the Church is to be preserved from degenerating into a nondescript club of nebulous numinosity. 1969E. C. Whitmont Symbolic Quest vii. 126 The energy which is withdrawn from the external world remains focussed exclusively upon the unconscious primitive image with its archaic numinosity. |