Mnestic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Concerning the faculties and mechanisms that underpin the act of remembering
2. Associated with the various cognitive processes that facilitate memory storage and recall
3. Pertaining to the mental capabilities involved in storing and retrieving information

Etymology: Ancient Greek had "mnēmē," meaning memory, and the Muses' mother was Mnemosyne, the personification of memory. The adjective "mnestic" comes from the same root, "mnā-," meaning "to remember," so its core sense is "relating to remembering." English adopted it for the mental processes behind memory. The modern vocabulary owes much to the German zoologist Richard Semon, who argued that experience leaves lasting physical traces in living tissue. He called the capacity of living matter to retain experience "mneme" and the traces themselves "engrams." Words in the "mnestic" family were later used to describe the processes that store those traces and bring them back.

Synonyms: memorial, reminiscent, remembering, recall