oh no
it turns out that the shinto concept of ‘kami’ – the universal sacred essence that infuses all things – is perfect for a thing in my worldbuilding that’s crucial to the plot. but i can’t gank it because english speakers are used to reading ‘kami’ as an individual god or spirit, not spirit-in-general.
i don’t want to invent vocab, i try to avoid doing that except when inventing entire languages. i don’t like to do that ‘call a rabbit a smeert’ trope.
but i’m sure as hell not gonna call it The Force.
any ideas on a vocab item for discussing The Thing What Makes The Grass Grow?
Numen.
ETA: Okay, so numen isn’t (usually) universal, so that’s not quite right, but it’s at least pointing in the right direction.
“Chi.” “Quintessence.” (Or just “Essence.”) “Orgone.”