1

I would like to know how to say the terms "oneirism"* and "oneiric film" in Japanese.

I've been searching for these terms in several dictionaries ENG-JAP, but the only result I get is "not matches have been found".

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!

*Oneirism = Alteration of consciousness characterized by the appearance of fantasies similar to those of dreams, with loss of the sense of reality.

3

1 Answer 1

6

Are you looking for a medical (psychiatric) term, or are you looking for a word laypeople know? Anyway, candidates include:

  • 白昼夢: "daydream"; a dream seen while awake
  • 夢想(的): "dream; vision"; basically a stiff kango version of 夢
  • 幻覚(的): "hallucination"; a psychiatric term known to laypeople; usually not associated with fantastical elements or decreased consciousness level
  • 幻想(的): "fantasy" as shown in this picture
  • 夢幻(様): a rare psychiatric term used to translate oneiroid state; but it's also widely used with no clear meaning in various fictional contexts
  • サイケデリック: "psychedelic" like this
  • 譫妄: "delirium", a common psychiatric term

If you are looking for the best Japanese medical term to describe oneiroid state or oneiroid hallucination as described in English Wikipedia, I would choose 夢幻様症状 or 夢幻様体験. But the concept itself seems to be little-known, and it may be categorized simply as 譫妄 today.

If you are looking for a word everyone understands, I believe there is no established translation, so you have to choose one of the above words depending on your purpose. If vividness is important, 幻覚 or サイケデリック may be used. If the fantastical aspect (e.g, unicorn, fairy, ...) is important, 幻想 may be better. Otherwise simple 夢想 may be the safest. Can you name a few films which you think is oneiric?

4
  • 1
    +1. Slightly off-topic, but onerioid syndrome (as a medical term in psychiatry) is more popular in Europe and seems to be more related to psychosis/schizophrenia.
    – Yosh
    Sep 26, 2019 at 2:57
  • @Yosh 「抑うつ状態」と「うつ病」的な感じで、oneiroid state的な現象自体はoneiroid syndromeじゃなくても起きうるのかなーと何となく思って、一応微妙に "syndrome" は避けておいたのですが、ろくに調べてないので定義を勘違いしているかもしれません
    – naruto
    Sep 26, 2019 at 4:23
  • I think Paprika is a good example of what I would call an "oneiric film".
    – Rick
    Sep 26, 2019 at 8:09
  • @naruto 仰るとおりで,oneiroid state は譫妄とかでも起こるものとおもいます.どっちかというと (may be categorized as というなら) psychosis とかのほうが概念としてより近しそうだ,というくらいのつもりでした.(米国では人気がなくヨーロッパで多少言及のある用語のようで,なかなか調べがつかないのもその影響のようですね.)長々と脇道で失礼しました.
    – Yosh
    Sep 27, 2019 at 6:13

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .