hallucinate (2009-10-23)

Part of Speech: verb

Pronunciation: [hê-'lu-sê-neyt]

Definition: To be deceived by delusions as a result of mental illness or a narcotic; to suffer a wildly distorted dream of something nonexistent but perceived as real.

Usage: Like many words in English (and elsewhere) today's word has wandered off course and is used to denote extreme self-deception, "If Gruenwald thinks that he is borrowing my car this weekend, he is hallucinating." It can also connote to an extreme form of day-dreaming, "Trudy hallucinates more boyfriends than she actually goes out with."

Suggested Usage: The noun from today's verb is "hallucination" and the adjective, "hallucinatory," as a hallucinatory drug. If you say (or write) "an historical," to be consistent, you should also write "an hallucination," since the initial syllable here is also unaccented and, hence, subject to the loss of the [h] in some dialects. Indeed, as today's etymology shows, the [h] came and went even in Latin. If you way "a historical," use "a" with the derivatives of today's word, too.

Etymology: From Latin "hallucinatus," past participle of hallucinari "to dream, hallucinate," a variant of alucinari "to prattle, to daydream. This verb is probably an extension of alusso "(I am) restless, uneasy" but no one is sure and further connections have not been found.