Enochian

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Relating to the mystical language said to have been revealed to the Elizabethan magus John Dee ; relating to the patriarch Enoch or the apocryphal Book of Enoch
2. Of or pertaining to the angelic tongue recorded by John Dee in the sixteenth century ; connected with the biblical figure Enoch or the texts attributed to him
3. Describing the esoteric script and speech associated with John Dee's angel conversations ; referring to Enoch, the antediluvian patriarch, or to writings bearing his name

Etymology: Enochian is named for Enoch, the biblical patriarch who, according to the Book of Enoch, was taken up by God and shown secrets of heaven and the cosmos. The word follows the familiar pattern of an adjective built from a person's name with the suffix "-ian," so it means "relating to Enoch" and, by extension, to the texts attributed to him. The name itself is the centre of the story. Enoch appears briefly in the Book of Genesis as the father of Methuselah, but the much longer apocryphal Book of Enoch expands his figure into a visionary who receives revelations about angels, the fall of the Watchers, and the workings of the heavens. The term is therefore a label for a body of mystical writing rather than for a language in ordinary use.