sensorium

English

Etymology

From Late Latin sensōrium, from Latin sentiō (“feel, perceive”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛnˈsɔː.ɹi.əm/

Noun

sensorium (plural sensoriums or sensoria)

1. (psychology) The entire sensory apparatus of an organism.
2. (physiology) The central part of a nervous system that receives and coordinates all stimuli.
   • 1820, Henry Matthews, chapter VIII, in The Diary of an Invalid, London: John Murray, page 231:

     […] in all injuries of the spine whereby a communication with the sensorium is cut off, it is the parts below the injury which are deprived of sensation, while those above retain their sensibility.

3. (figurative) The brain or mind in relation to the senses.
   • 1714 July 9, Joseph Addison, editor, The Spectator, volume VII, number 565, page 36:

     Others have conſidered infinite Space as the Receptacle, or rather the Habitation of the Almighty : But the nobleſt and moſt exalted Way of conſidering this infinite Space is that of Sir Iſaac Newton, who calls it the Senſorium of the Godhead. Brutes and Men have their Senſoriola, or little Senſoriums by which they apprehend the Preſence and percieve the Actions of a few Objects, that lie contiguous to them.

   • 1760, Laurence Sterne, chapter X, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 4th edition, volume II, London: R. and J. Dodsley, page 67:

     The ringing of the bell and the rap upon the door, ſtruck likewiſe ſtrong upon the ſenſorium of my uncle Toby,—but it excited a very different train of thoughts ;—the two irreconcileable pulſations inſtantly brought Stevinus, the great engineer, along with them, into my uncle Toby’s mind […]

Anagrams

• Monsieurs, monsieurs

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Latin

Etymology

From sentiō. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /senˈsoː.ri.um/, [s̠ẽːˈs̠oːriʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /senˈso.ri.um/, [senˈsɔːrium]

Noun

sēnsōrium n (genitive sēnsōriī or sēnsōrī); second declension

1. the seat or organ of sensation

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sēnsōrium	sēnsōria
Genitive	sēnsōriī sēnsōrī1	sēnsōriōrum
Dative	sēnsōriō	sēnsōriīs
Accusative	sēnsōrium	sēnsōria
Ablative	sēnsōriō	sēnsōriīs
Vocative	sēnsōrium	sēnsōria

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

References

• “sensorium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• sensorium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.