# MEMORY WORD AS IN PROUST **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310 "2000-11-22T16:53:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/1 "2000-11-22T16:53:57Z")
There must be a word, and it’s not deja vu, for when you smell new mown grass and suddenly are projected back into the past at your grandmother’s cottage and you briefly experience the green grass and the rain barrel, etc. jThis is what Proust said happen to him when he ate a certain teacake and it started him writing A la recherche du temps perdu, or ABOUT THE SEARCH OF THE TIME LOST. What is this word in psychology? They must have one because they have one for everything else, such as hypnopompic and hypnogogic for just waking up and just before going to sleep, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![ignatzmouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b2d939/32.png) [@ignatzmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignatzmouse)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/2 "2000-11-22T17:03:36Z")
The only term I have heard for this is “involuntary memory.” ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/3 "2000-11-22T18:36:55Z")
The _Le Monde_ newspaper talks of ‘olfactive memory (also known as Proustian syndrome)’ [http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,2320,dos-3592-83803-QUO-1-2720-,00.html](http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,2320,dos-3592-83803-QUO-1-2720-,00.html) I’ve also seen Proustian Effect and Proustian Phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/4 "2000-11-22T18:40:22Z")
let’s try this again: [http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,2320,dos-3592-83803-QUO-1-2720-,00.html](http://www.lemonde.fr/article/0,2320,dos-3592-83803-QUO-1-2720-,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/5 "2000-11-22T18:42:35Z")
The teacake was, specifically, a **madeleine** ; and Merriam-Webster gives to that word a secondary meaning: “one that evokes a memory”, of course derived from Proust. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/6 "2000-11-22T18:46:42Z")
How about a “Marcel Moment”? ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/7 "2000-11-22T18:55:49Z")
I LIKE it!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/8 "2000-11-22T20:35:56Z")
I’ve always used Frank Herbert’s word from _Dune_–_adab_, the demanding memory that comes of itself. This is obviously not standard English (though I still maintain the hope that it will be adopted), but it works well enough for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/9 "2000-11-22T21:37:38Z")
In analogy with déjà vu (“already seen”) and déjà entendu (“already heard”), I nominate déjà flairé (“already smelled”). Of course the first two normally refer to a false feeling that you have already experienced something, whereas I think what you’re describing is something that triggers a real memory. ---
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/10 "2000-11-22T21:53:07Z")
How about perdu mais ici, meaning lost but here (nevertheless) when this experience happens. Or a madelainesque experience. I was sure there was a word derived from Greek or Latin or both in the psychology encyclopedia. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/11 "2000-11-22T22:59:05Z")
‘perdu mais ici’ is not very idiomatic in French. However, ‘madelainesque experience’ has a certain cachet. I agree with you that there must be a term, derived from Latin or Greek, describing this psychological state. I’ve studied both languages a long time ago; tried to search the recesses of my memory, but to no avail. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/12 "2000-11-23T04:05:24Z")
From my psych book (Sdorow): Episodic memory: the subsystem of declarative memory that contains memories of personal experiences tied to particular times and places. Context-dependent memory: The tendency for recall to be best when the environmental context present during the encoding of a memory is also present during attempts at retrieving it. Actually, the first would be more _where_ this type of memory is stored, while the latter would be _how_ it is best retrieved. Therefore, your mind stores in its memory banks an episode, such as being back at grandma’s cottage, and the memory is triggered by an environmental aspect present at the time - the cut grass. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2000, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memory-word-as-in-proust/42310/13 "2000-11-23T13:14:34Z")
The term I was looking for: _ **MNEMOSYNE** _ 😃