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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · English Edition

Gerhard Dorn and John French

A Chymical Dictionary

An Expanded Diotimos Lexicon of Paracelsian and Alchemical Language

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A Chymical DictionarySomnia

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English Edition · Branch 654 of 740

Somnia

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 654

Somnia

Spirits celestial influences and signs · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Dreams explained through stellar operations in the sleeper.

In the book. Compare Sortilegium, a presage through spirits, and Pyromancy, divination through fire.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 43; facsimile PDF page 371.

Historical Definition

Somnia are operations made in a person by the stars during sleep.

Meaning

The definition treats dreams as effects of an active relation between stars and the sleeping person. It supplies a cause within the compiler’s natural philosophy, rather than merely listing images seen in a dream.

Use in the Book

Compare Sortilegium, a presage through spirits, and Pyromancy, divination through fire. Dreams belong to the wider vocabulary of signs and influences, but this sentence does not claim that every dream is a reliable prediction.

Places to Read

Pyromancy. Divination through the signs of fire.

Sortilegium. Foretelling mediated by spirits.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 43; facsimile PDF page 371 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Somnia; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 371; compare Pyromancy, Sortilegium

See also. Pyromancy; Sortilegium

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About This Reading Edition

The complete 706 historical definitions of the 1650 English dictionary, modernised and accompanied by expanded Diotimos commentary, reading routes, 15 textual notes and complete linked indexes.

Historical Text

A Chymicall Dictionary, London 1650, English version associated with John French, based on Gerhard Dorn’s Dictionarium Theophrasti Paracelsi. The containing volume also prints Sendivogius and Paracelsus; neither neighboring work changes this dictionary’s attribution.

About This Edition

Complete 706 definition paragraphs with new introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes; Diotimos Editions, 2026.

Rights

The historical 1650 English text is in the public domain. New introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and published with the site owner’s authorization.