Etymology

cryptomnesia

cryp·to·mnes·ia
C3R1Y4P3T1O1M3N1E1S1I1A1

Today it means: The phenomenon of the reappearance of a long-forgotten memory as if it were a new experience; (countable) an instance of this. Contrast cryptaesthesia. Full definition →

First used 1900French cryptomnésie
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The story

  1. French · derived fromcryptomnésie
  2. English todaycryptomnesia

From crypto- (prefix meaning ‘hidden’) + (a)mnesia, modelled after French cryptomnésie, which was coined by Swiss psychologist and parapsychologist Théodore Flournoy (1854–1920) in his work Des Indes à la planète Mars (From India to the Planet Mars, 1899 or 1900). The English word was probably first used in the 1900 translation of Flournoy’s work: see the quotation.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1900 The phenomenon of the reappearance of a long-forgotten memory as if it were a new experience; (countable) an instance of this. Contrast cryptaesthesia.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.