odylic

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English

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WOTD – 19 January 2024

Etymology

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From odyle, odyl +‎ -ic (suffix meaning of or pertaining to forming adjectives from nouns).[1] Odyle, odyl is derived from od (borrowed from German Od, arbitrarily coined by the German scientist and philosopher Carl Reichenbach (1788–1869)) + Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē, “wood; material, matter, substance”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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odylic (not comparable)

  1. (pseudoscience, historical) Of or pertaining to the od or odyle (“a hypothetical force or natural power, now proved not to exist, which was supposed by Carl Reichenbach and others to inhere in certain people and produce phenomena such as animal magnetism and mesmerism, and to be developed by various agencies, as by chemical or vital action, heat, light, magnets, etc.”).
    Synonym: odic
    • 1850, Karl, Baron von Reichenbach [i.e., Carl Reichenbach], “Eighth Treatise. Luminous Phenomena.”, in William Gregory, transl., Researches on Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemical Attraction, in Their Relations to the Vial Force. […], London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly, […]; Edinburgh: MacLachlan & Stewart, →OCLC, part II, paragraph 378, page 303:
      A bundle of bars or of horse-shoes, placed with like magnetic poles in contact, has its odylic poles reversed, so as to alternate with each other.
    • 1851 October, W. H., “Art. XI.—Letters to a Candid Inquirer on Animal Magnetism. By William Gregory, M.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh. Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1851. [book review]”, in Isaac [Minis] Hays, editor, The American Journal of the Medical Sciences, volume XXII (New Series), number XLIV, Philadelphia, Pa.: Blanchard & Lea, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 441:
      If the laboratory of the professor could be graced with the odylometer, the odylic battery, and the snail telegraph, what a blaze of odylic light would be concentrated there from the past, the present, and the future! And who could endure it but those whose bodies had long "bathed in odylic light," and whose minds had been long saturated with odylic belief? Such are some few of the notions and statements which we find in Professor Gregory's book. As we have read them, we have paused, we know not how often, and asked, Can it be that Dr. Gregory, the Professor of Chemistry in Edinburgh, really believes as he writes? May it not, after all, be a burlesque?
    • 1863, [Samuel Guppy], “Finis”, in Mary Jane; or, Spiritualism Chemically Explained with Spirit Drawings. […], London: […] John King & Co., […], →OCLC, page 363:
      I believe it is the odylic vapour which has been attached to seeds found in the case of a mummy, which, after 3,000 years, makes that seed germinate.
    • 1913 August, F. C. Wehmeyer, “Seeing the Aura by the Aid of Coloured Screens”, in Annie Besant, editor, The Theosophist: A Magazine of Brotherhood, Oriental Philosophy, Art, Literature and Occultism, volume XXXIV, part II, number 11, Adyar, Madras, Tamil Nadu: Theosophical Publishing House, →OCLC, page 719:
      The odylic light generally confines itself to more or less luminous spots, e.g., around the finger-tips, the eyes, the mouth, the solar plexus, etc., but does not generally appear as a complete aura surrounding the body at a distance from it, except to more clairvoyant people who are said to be able to see this light, in both light and darkness, in the form of an aura with the ordinary colours, red on the left side and blue on the right.
    • 1976, E[sther] M. Thornton, “New Developments in Germany”, in Hypnotism, Hysteria and Epilepsy: An Historical Synthesis, London: William Heinemann Medical Books, →ISBN, page 73:
      One of the most important modifications of the original theory of the magnetic fluid was instituted in the forties by the Baron Carl von Reichenbach who renamed it the Odylic Force and incorporated it into an esoteric lore of poles and passes in which a number of secondary polarities in the human body were postulated, […]

Alternative forms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “odylic, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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