NUMEN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Numen

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Numen

noun

(pl. numina)

A spirit believed to inhabit an object or preside over a place (especially in ancient Roman religion).

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Etymology of 'Numen'

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"Numen" Quotes from Famous Books

... though it commonly begins later. Let the people learn necessary knowledge; let them learn to count their fingers, and to count their money, before they are caring for the classics; for," says Mr. Johnson, "though I do not quite agree with the proverb, that Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia, yet we may very well say, that ...

— Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. - during the last twenty years of his life • Hester Lynch Piozzi

... Alfieri never wrote more completely from his heart than when, composing the epitaph of the Countess, he said of Mme. d'Albany that she had been loved by him more than anything on earth, and held almost as a mortal divinity. "A Victorio Alferio ... ultra res omnes dilecta, et quasi mortale numen ab ipso constanter habita et observata." For a thought begins about the year 1796 to recur throughout Alfieri's letters and sonnets, and whenever he mentions the Countess in his autobiography; a thought too terrible not to be genuine: he or his beloved must die first; one or the other ...

— The Countess of Albany • Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee)

Words linked to "Numen" : religion, faith, religious belief, disembodied spirit, spirit, numinous