▪ I. ‖ soma1
(ˈsəʊmə)
Also 8 som.
[Skr. sōma, = Zend haōma, Pers. hōm: see hom.]
1. a. An intoxicating drink holding a prominent place in Vedic ritual and religion.
The soma was prepared from the juice of a plant which is commonly supposed to have been Asclepias acida or Sarcostemma viminale (or acidum).
| 1827 [see sense 2]. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 174/2 The soma, when properly prepared, is a powerful spirit. 1869 T. C. Barker Aryan Civiliz. i. (1871) 3 From the Hindoo he [the fire-god] has the fermented drink called soma. 1872 Whittier Brewing of Soma iv, From tent to tent The Soma's sacred madness went, A storm of drunken joy. 1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 205/2 The soma..must have played an important part in the ancient worship, at least as early as the Indo-Persian period. |
| attrib. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 175/1 What else is this act of drinking the soma-juice but a kind of sacrament? 1874 L. J. Trotter Hist. India i. i. 4 He [Indra] delights in drinking the sacred soma juice. 1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 205 Among the Vaidik rites the soma-sacrifices are the most solemn and complicated. 1895 A. Nutt Voy. Bran I. 321 The immortality claimed by the soma devotee. |
b. In Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, a narcotic drug which produces euphoria and hallucination, distributed by the state in order to promote content and social harmony. Also transf. and attrib.
| 1932 A. Huxley Brave New World iii. 66 There is always soma, delicious soma, half a gramme for a half⁓holiday, a gramme for a week-end, two grammes for a trip to the gorgeous East, three for a dark eternity on the moon. Ibid. v. 95 The soma had begun to work. Eyes shone, cheeks were flushed, the inner light of universal benevolence broke out on every face in happy, friendly smiles. Ibid. vi. 107 Bernard swallowed four tablets of soma at a gulp. Ibid. xv. 246 The two Groups..were served by the Deputy Sub-Bursar with their soma ration. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Feb. 105/2 The forecast [in Brave New World] of a pain-killing, pleasure-giving pill called soma, at once the perfect substitute for alcohol, opium and benzedrine, has not yet been wholly fulfilled. 1968 ‘J. le Carré’ Small Town in Germany ix. 155 If I smoked I'd smoke one of your cigars. I could do with a bit of soma just now. 1976 Interdisciplinary Sci. Rev. I. 178/1 Suppose there was national agreement on the need for a ‘good’ psychoactive drug, one which would be as universally used as the ubiquitous soma of Brave New World. |
2. soma plant, the plant yielding the soma-juice. Also ellipt.
| 1785 C. Wilkins tr. Bhăgvăt Gēētā ix. 80 The followers of the three Vēds, who drink the juice of the Sōm..address me. Ibid. 143 Sōm—is the name of a creeper, the juice of which is commanded to be drank at the conclusion of a sacrifice. 1827 Colebrooke in Trans. Royal Asiatic Soc. I. 455 The presenting of expressed juice of the sóma plant. 1866 Treas. Bot. s.v. Asclepias, The bruised stem and leaves of the Soma plant yield a juice [etc.]. 1882 Cornh. Mag. June 720 The soma plant, by which Indra conquers Vritra. 1972 R. G. Wasson Soma ii. 10 My candidate for the identity of soma is Amanita muscaria.., in English the fly-agaric. |
▪ II. ‖ soma2 Phys.
(ˈsəʊmə)
[a. Gr. σῶµα body.]
1. The body of an organism in contrast to the germ-cells. Also attrib. in soma-plasm. Also fig.
| 1889 tr. Weismann's Ess. Heredity, etc. 122 It is necessary to distinguish between..the body in its narrower sense (soma) and the germ-cells. Ibid. 154 The perishable and vulnerable nature of the soma. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 259/2 With Weismann, we suppose the germ⁓plasm to be different in kind from the general soma-plasm. 1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Oct. 966 If the mother be addicted to drink, additional damage may be done to the soma during intra-uterine life. 1914 W. R. Inge Outspoken Ess. (1919) 238, I can see no other fate in store for the soma of Catholicism; the germ-cells of true Christianity live their own life within it. |
2. Anat. The compact portion of a nerve-cell, excluding the axon.
| 1947 R. Lorente de Nó in Jrnl. Cellular & Compar. Physiol. XXIX. 211 The word ‘soma’ will be used to denote the body and all the dendritic branches of the neuron. 1970 Jrnl. Neurobiol. I. 340 The somas are likely to be the site of protein synthesis. 1974 Nature 8 Nov. 155/1 Studies with a few invertebrate preparations have suggested different ionic mechanisms for spike generation in the soma and axon of the same neurone. |
3. The body in contrast to the mind or the soul. Opp. psyche.
| 1958 A. Wilson Middle Age of Mrs Eliot i. 72 He says that between Else fussing with his soma and me with his psyche, all he really wants is a complete rest and he wishes he were travelling with you. 1969 Listener 26 June 881/2 A score of youths and girls intent on exploring each other honestly and sincerely in psyche and soma can't help generating some degree of excitement. 1976 Lancet 30 Oct. 946/2 No personal physician, at any time, has been able to operate successfully without using substances, as symbols of healing of the soma and the psyche. |