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Et cetera >oneiric

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Oneric, adjective, meaning "relating to dreams or dreaming."

Straight from the Ancient Greek, this delicious word for dreaming grounds the language of the heart with an etymological wink to the foundation of occidental mythology, philosophy, and civilisation.

Part of oneiric's charm is its sonorous similarity to onanism (where the reductive intellectual misinterpretation of dreams will lead you), onerous (an apt word for a life without dream), and oenology (the study of wine, that great stirrer of dreams).

Its slight obscurity has thankfully shielded it from the corrupted consumerism and politicisation that encumbers "dream."

But it's the way oneiric instantly releases a poetic sensibility that makes me love it so much. Wings may let you fly, but oneiric wings, like the little ones on Hermes’ boots, lift not just the mind and body, but the soul and spirit as well.

Used carefully, an oneiric modification will lift a leaden thought and instantly lead you somewhere unexpected.

 

This page was last updated on 19 February, 2021.

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