obnubilation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin obnūbilātiō.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒbnjuːbɪˈleɪʃən/, [ɒbnjuːbɪˈleɪʃn̩]

Noun

obnubilation (countable and uncountable, plural obnubilations)

1. The action of darkening or fact of being darkened, as with a cloud; obscuration. [1610]
   • 1610, John Healey (tr.), S^t. Auguſtine, of the Citie of God: with the learned Comments of Io. Lod. Vives, bk 3, ch. 15, pp. 127–8, note e:

     Neither can the Moone be eclipſed but at her ful, and in her fartheſt poſture from the ſunne: then is ſhe proſtitute to obnubilation.

   • 1653, Edward Waterhouse, An humble apologie for learning and learned men‎^[1], page 175:

     Let then others glory in their triumphs, and trophies, in their obnubilation of bodies coruscant, that they have brought fear upon Champions, forced contributions from the Herculesses of manhood.

   • 1819, Felix MacDonogh, The Hermit in London, II, p. 133:

     Fog and sunshine, obnubilation and light.

   • 1951, Abraham Moses Klein (aut.), E.A. Popham and Z. Pollock (eds.), The Second Scroll (2000), gloss dalid (ר), p. 95:

     Let no dark // Obnubilations of salesmen dim the day // Lit by your contract, which is clear, as though it were // A lamp.

   • 1989, Charles Doyle, Richard Aldington: A Biography, ch. 11, p. 146:

     In 1931 these and other obnubilations…were over the horizon and he gave a set of proofs of The Colonel’s Daughter to Douglas.

2. (medicine, specifically) Obscuration or clouding of the mind or faculties. [1753]
   • 1753 Dec. 17th, John Rutty, A Spiritual Diary and Soliloquies in The Life of Samuel Johnſon, LL.D. (1791), aut. James Boswell, vol. II, “1777. Ætat. 68.”, p. 155:

     An hypochondriack obnubilation from wind and indigeſtion.

   • 1803, Thomas Beddoes, Hygëia III, essay ix, p. 198:

     Dimness or obnubilation of sight.

   • 1888 May, G.S. Hall (ed.), The American Journal of Psychology I, № 3, “Ueber die therapeutische Verwendung der Hypnose by Richard Schulz” (review), p. 519:

     At the instant of the accident the patient lost consciousness for several hours, and afterwards lay for several days in a state of torpor or obnubilation.

   • 1892, H. Power and L.W. Sedgwick, The New Sydenham Society’s Lexicon of Medicine and the Allied Sciences IV, s.v. “Obnubilaʹtion”:

     Obnubilaʹtion…A dazzling of the eyes without giddiness, so that objects seem to be seen through a cloud, as in threatened fainting.

   • 1960 Jun. 27th–29th, Henri Fischgold and Betty A. Schwartz, “A clinical, electroencephalographic and polygraphic study of sleep in the human adult” in the Ciba Foundation Symposium on “The Nature of Sleep”, eds. G.E.W. Wolstenholme and M. O’Connor, p. 235:

     Obnubilations, comas and stupors, each with its clinical and electroencephalographic characteristics.

   • 1997 Jul., Juan F. Masa et al., “Noninvasive Positive Pressure Ventilation and Not Oxygen May Prevent Overt Ventilatory Failure in Patients With Chest Wall Diseases” in Chest CXII, № 1, Abstract, p. 207:

     After 2 weeks of treatment, symptoms of dyspnea, morning headaches, and morning obnubilation improved significantly…in both groups of patients after NIPPV but not with oxygen.

3. (rare, literally) A veiling with or concealment in clouds. [1814]
   • 1814 Jan. 15th, “Foggiana” in The Spirit of the Public Journals for 1814 (1815), p. 23:

     Homer, the father of the Poets, by these obnubilations, frequently rescues his heroes from the most imminent danger. Thus, in the third book of The Iliad, when Paris, defeated by Menelaus, is on the point of losing his life, Venus snatches him away in a fog: — // “Then, as once more he lifts the deadly dart, // In thirst of vengeance, at his rival’s heart, // The Queen of Love her fav’rite champion shrouds // (For Gods can all things) in a veil of clouds.”

4. Something that obscures or causes confoundment; an obfuscation. [1999]
   • 1999, Balachandra Rajan, Under Western Eyes: India from Milton to Macaulay, Afterword, p. 206:

     Pound’s ugly invective about the “obnubilations” of Indian art.

   • 2009, Chris J. Ackerley, Watt, page Preface:

     The problem of error is crucial, for as Watt interrogates the foundations of rational inquiry, the distinctions between intended errors, authorial errors, mistakes introduced by publishers, changes of intention and other obnubilations loom all the larger.

   • 2016, Roger Paulin, The Life of August Wilhelm Schlegel, Cosmopolitan of Art and Poetry, § 2.1.2, p. 79:

     Philosophy was wreathed in Fichtean obnubilations.

Related terms

• obnubilate (adjective, verb)
• obnubilated (adjective)
• obnubilous (adjective)

Translations

action of darkening or fact of being darkened

• Finnish: pimentäminen (fi)

medicine: obscuration or clouding of the mind or faculties

• Finnish: obskuraatio
• French: obnubilation (fr) f

  Middle French: obnubilation f

veiling with or concealment in clouds

• Finnish: pilviverho (fi)
• French: obnubilation (fr) f
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ewrkirin (ku)

something that obscures or causes confoundment

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 神志不清 (zh) (shénzhì bùqīng)

• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} obnubilatsioon
• German: ^{(please verify)} Umwölkung f
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} obnubilazione f
• Portuguese: ^{(please verify)} obnubilação f
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} obnubilación (es) f

References

• “OBNUBILAʹTION” in Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1st edition, 1828)
• “Obnubilation” in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1st edition), volume VII (O, P; 1909), § i (O, ed. James Augustus Henry Murray), page 25/3
• “obnubilation, n.” in the Oxford English Dictionary (3rd edition, March 2004)

French

Etymology

Inherited from the Middle French obnubilation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔb.ny.bi.la.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

obnubilation f (plural obnubilations)

1. (medicine, obsolete) perception of objects as if seen through a cloud, dazzlement, obnubilation [1858]
2. (medicine) a disorder of consciousness characterised by slowed and obscured thought, obnubilation [1926]
3. (in the etymological sense) the state of being covered with clouds or fog, obnubilation [1936]

Synonyms

• (perception of objects as if seen through a cloud, dazzlement, obnubilation): vertige m

Further reading

• “obnubilation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin obnūbilātiō.

Noun

obnubilation f (plural obnubilations)

1. clouding of the mind, obscuration of the mental faculties, obnubilation [1486]

Descendants

• French: obnubilation