From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPeculiar means specially one’s own, proper to a person, or privately belonging.
- In TraherneThe book’s repeated claim that all things belong to each person makes peculiar possession surprisingly compatible with universal enjoyment.
- In this editionThe 2026 note to III.72 glosses peculiar treasures as private possessions.
- A place to beginEach heavenly person is God’s peculiar friend while loving the others.
Meaning
Peculiar means specially one’s own, proper to a person, or privately belonging. Depending on the sentence, it can also mark a distinctive excellence; oddness is rarely the point.
Use in the book
The book’s repeated claim that all things belong to each person makes peculiar possession surprisingly compatible with universal enjoyment. Each soul can be God’s peculiar friend while delighting in His equally intimate love for others. The world is God’s peculiar treasure, and divine likeness makes it ours too. In the rendering of Pico, however, a peculiar office would be a fixed assignment distinguishing one creature from the rest. The word therefore marks specific belonging or determination, with the local argument deciding whether that particularity is restrictive or enriching.
Places to read
In this edition
The 2026 note to III.72 glosses peculiar treasures as private possessions. Private here must be read beside Traherne’s insistence on undiminished shared enjoyment.
Source note
Primary text: I.97, III.74, IV.76; historical gloss: 2026 edition note to III.72.