Having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of a divinity; awe-inspiring and mysterious.
From Latin 'numen' (divine power/spirit), coined in its modern sense by Rudolf Otto in 'The Idea of the Holy' (1917). The root 'numen' originally meant 'a nod' — as in a god nodding its will into being.
When you stand under the stars and feel something HUGE and unknowable? That shiver up your spine? That's the numinous! Rudolf Otto invented the modern meaning because he needed a word for HOLY AWE. ✨
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