May 24, 2018 12:26
5 yrs ago
English term

omnogogic

Non-PRO English Art/Literary General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Hi everyone!

The term is from St Aubyn's "Mother's Milk". Let me give the context:

Patrick is having a hard time falling asleep. He is caught in a vicious cycle of thoughts. Trying to get rid of it, he gets up, changes rooms and slides into the bed where his wife and little son is sleeping.

"Patrick lay on his side, teetering on the edge of the bed. He certainly wasn’t going to get any sleep in this precarious sardine tin, but if he could just let his mind glide along, he might get some rest; if he could go omnogogic, gaining the looseness of dreams without their tyranny, that would be something. He was just going to forget about the Julia incident. What Julia incident?"

I couldn't find anything about "omnogogic", or even anything close to it. Does anybody have an idea what it can be? Thanks
Responses
4 +2 hypnagogic

Discussion

vitaminBcomplex (asker) May 26, 2018:
Jack's initial post has made me realise something I should have written before. In cases Patrick falls asleep, he sees nightmares (and this is a chronic condition). I assume that's why he wants to "gain the looseness of dreams without their tyranny." And I can't help wondering what Jack has wondered already: that Patrick desires the ability to enter "into any situation" (in this case, a state of sweet dreaming), because he has no hope of sleeping at that particular time and situation. Somehow, I'm inclined to think it's not a typo after all.
Jack Doughty May 24, 2018:
somnogogic If hypna (or hypno?)gogic is related to sleep. "somno..." words are also related to sleep. So I wondered if that was meant, and the "s" had been inadvertently missed out. But I could find just ONE reference in all of Google - http://www.suburbanadventure.com/tag/911/ - and that doesn't really explain what the word somnogogic means.
Terry Richards May 24, 2018:
Don't know if this helps... ...but there is a word "hypnagogic" which means the drowsy state just before going into full sleep. This term would make perfect sense in your context.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia
Jack Doughty May 24, 2018:
dream about anything at all I don't feel I can post this as an answer because it's just a wild guess, but the ...gogic ending comes from a Greek word meaning "enter into" (see ref.), so I wonder if by omnigogic he meansthat the ability to enter into any situation or subject at all while trying to sleep would help him get to sleep.
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p486ukd/Greek-hypnos-meaning...

Responses

+2
46 mins
Selected

hypnagogic

I'm guessing that maybe someone misread the author's handwriting.

hypnagogic
relating to, or occurring in the period of drowsiness immediately preceding sleep. hypnagogic hallucinations
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypnagogic
Peer comment(s):

agree Charles Davis : I think it's probably a typo for "somnogogic", which gives me precisely two Google results, but would be a synonym of "hypnagogic", using the Latin root for "sleep" (somnus) rather than the proper Greek one (hypnos).
14 mins
Thanks. Whatever went wrong, I think the meaning is clear.
agree Daryo
11 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks!"
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