different between divinity vs numen

English

Etymology

From Old French divinité, from Latin divinitas

Morphologically divine +? -ity

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??v?n?ti/

Noun

divinity (countable and uncountable, plural divinities)

1. (uncountable) The state, position, or fact of being a god or God. [from 14th c.]
2. (countable) Synonym of deity.

3. A celestial being inferior to a supreme God but superior to man.
4. (uncountable) The study of religion or religions.

5. A type of confectionery made with egg whites, corn syrup, and white sugar.

Synonyms

• (property of being divine): deity, godhead, godhood, godliness, godship
• (deity): See Thesaurus:god
• (study): godlore, theology

Derived terms

Related terms

See Related terms for divine

Translations

English

Etymology

From Latin n?men.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?nju?.m?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?nu?.m?n/

Noun

numen (plural numina)

1. A divinity, especially a local or presiding god.
   • 1671, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe, Chapter 4:

     The Egyptians were doubtless the most singular of all the Pagans, and the most oddly discrepant from the rest in their manner of worship; yet nevertheless, that these also agreed with the rest in those fundamentals of worshipping one supreme and universal Numen […]
2. An influence or phenomenon at once mystical and transcendant.

See also

• numinous
• numinal

Latin

Alternative forms

• noumen

Etymology

• Could be simply an action noun of *nu?, for *nuimen, from *nu? + -men, thus meaning "a nodding with the head", "a nod", "command", "will" (as n?tus), with the particular meaning of "the divine will", "the will or power of the gods", "divine sway".
• Others suggest the Ancient Greek word ????????? (nooúmenon) ("an influence perceptible by mind but not by senses"), from ???? (noé?), was borrowed into Early Latin as the word noumen, whose spelling changed to numen in Classical Latin.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?nu?.men/, [?nu?m?n]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?nu.men/, [?nu?m?n]

Noun

n?men n (genitive n?minis); third declension

1. a nod of the head
2. divine sway or will
3. divine power or right
4. divinity
5. (by extension) fairy

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Descendants

• ? English: numen, numinous
• ? Italian: nume
• ? Portuguese: nume, númen
• ? Spanish: numen

References

• numen in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• numen in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• numen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?numen/

Verb

numen

1. past participle of niman

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin numen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?numen/, [?nu.m?n]

Noun

numen m (plural númenes)

1. numen
2. muse (source of inspiration)

   Synonyms: inspiración, musa

Further reading

• “numen” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.