{"id":16,"date":"2026-09-18T19:54:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/?p=16"},"modified":"2026-09-18T19:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:54:28","slug":"the-story-of-the-word-oneiroglossy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/?p=16","title":{"rendered":"The story of the word \u201cOneiroglossy\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In March 2025, I posted the following essay on my Patreon:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Last week, I made up a word. It\u2019s a pretty good one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s\u00a0Oneirogloss<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0oneiroglossary<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0oneiroglossic<\/em>. The middle one may already exist. But I don\u2019t think anyone is going around using it in sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word serves a function that is not currently being met by existing words. It is rooted in the standard rules of etymology (which are not standard at all). Now, all that\u2019s left is to use the word, define the word, and get other people to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definition, use, and roots for Oneirogloss<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Oneiro <\/em>\u2013 Greek root for \u201cdream\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glossa <\/em>\u2013 Greek root for \u201clanguage\u201d \u201ctongue\u201d or idiom.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We could use Latin, some form of lingua somnium<\/em>. But the need here is for one word that means \u201cthe language of dreams, the idiom of the unconscious, as appears in myth and folklore as well as active imagination, shamanic journeys, and dreams at night.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason I want this to be a word is because I\u2019m very tired of typing that same sentence out a million times every time I talk about speaking in the language of the unconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know the word oneiromancy exists \u2013 that\u2019s dream interpretation. And so one would assume that oneiroglossary or a dream dictionary \u2013 probably isn\u2019t out of the question. But to speak in oneiroglossic terms, to speak of a story that is in oneirogloss or oneiroglossic language, that\u2019s something I can\u2019t locate in Google or Academia.edu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s a valid word. I think I can use it, even if no one else does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as my professor in grad school said about his own neologisms, \u201cSometimes you gotta give them the old Razzle Dazzle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m Not Sure How to Make Oneiroglossic a Thing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How does someone make a word a word? You use it in a sentence, you define it, you try to write about it. But is anyone using my professor\u2019s made up words? Not that I\u2019m seeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have to be useful words. Is \u201cdream language\u201d clear enough, does it make enough sense in itself? Does it need a word? I want a word for it. But do I need to create that word? Will other scholars of depth psychology use it? Find it helpful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will likely have to publish on the usefulness and function of this word, and I\u2019m not even sure how or where to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Playing with Words and Metaphors<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m in the midst of creating art for an Oracle deck. (See\u00a0Youtube<\/a>\u00a0for more about that). Each card is based on an untranslatable word. A concept that is useful, for which there is only one term in the thesaurus. These words cannot be reduced to simpler words without sentences of description and definition.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like this exercise \u2013 creating words, creating cards based on words, on the desire and need for descriptions and words for ideas that I cannot otherwise communicate \u2013 this is my work at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a trip to Greece, I like to sound out the Greek letters on billboards and signs. I like to see if I can figure out what the words say with my extremely limited Greek vocabulary.  I spotted a moving van with a word on it: Metafora.<\/em>  The delight that shivered down to my toes when I learned that metafora means to \u201ccarry over\u201d was absolute and perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The metaphor is a moving van of meaning. When we have no way of getting from one idea to the next with the words we have, we bridge them together in a poetic image and carry over the idea that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why we need poetry. Because sometimes \u2013 just sometimes \u2013 the dream speaks the metaphor, the metaphor speaks the reality that is inexpressible in any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(This Patreon post<\/a>\u00a0continues into another topic \u2013 more words that need to be created \u2013 but we\u2019re going to stick with Oneiroglossy for now.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In March 2025, I posted the following essay on my Patreon:\u00a0 Last week, I made up a word. It\u2019s a pretty good one.  It\u2019s\u00a0Oneirogloss\u00a0or\u00a0oneiroglossary\u00a0or\u00a0oneiroglossic. The middle one may already exist. But I don\u2019t think anyone is going around using it in sentences. The word serves a function that is not currently being met by existing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oneiroglossypress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}