numen

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Latin nūmenbor. English numen Borrowed from Latin nūmen.

1. A divinity, especially a local or presiding god.

   “The Egyptians were doubtless the most singular of all the Pagans, and the most oddly discrepant from the rest in their manner of worship; yet nevertheless, that these also agreed with the rest in those fundamentals of worshipping one supreme and universal Numen […]”

   “Where were Secretaries James and Foster and Senator Joseph, those dear daft numina who’d mothered over Oedipa’s so temperate youth?”

2. An influence or phenomenon at once mystical and transcendent.

   “[…]but never did the places or the persons turn into idols for my irrational worship. It was only the numen in them that I loved, who, as I passed by abstracted, whispered some immortal word in my ear.”