Quiddity

Quiddity is the name of the dream sea, first mentioned in Clive Barker's novel, "The Great and Secret Show". The sea is part of what the book refers to as "the metacosm", a place that basically runs parallel to the world we know. Every being is said to enter Quiddity three times: at birth, at death, and when you first sleep with your true love. At the center of Quiddity lies an island called the Ephermis, the home of certain nightmarish creatures. While Quiddity is not a real sea and the Ephermis is not a real island it is said that man couldn't grasp the true definition.

Quid"di*ty (?), n.; pl. Quiddities (#). [LL. quidditas, fr. L. quid what, neut. of quis who, akin to E. who: cf. F. quiddit'e.]

1.

The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which answers the question, Quid est? or, What is it?

Bacon.

The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose. De Quincey.

2.

A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble.

We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now. Coleridge.

© Webster 1913.