The Origin and Meaning of the Word "Paranormal"

According to most sources, the term paranormal found popularity in common use relatively recently; they claim that the designation dates back only to the 1920s. In order to uncover the true roots of the word, we have to first examine it's separate parts.

The word is formed by combining the Greek prefix para-, which means "alongside, beyond, altered, contrary," with the word norma, a Latin word meaning "rule or pattern". By understanding that the word is created through the combination of these two parts, we can draw a simple conclusion: whoever coined the term was educated enough to have at least a passing acquaintance with both Latin and Greek. While it might not seem like a major clue, it eliminates a large portion of the population at the time.

Our next clues can be found among the old books, a place that has become increasingly easy to search thanks to the efforts of the Google Books digital archive. Within the digitized pages, we find the following instances of the term paranormal:

• 1882: The American Journal of Science, Volume 123, Page 238. This first reference finds the term included under the Chemistry and Physics portion of the Journal in an article titled, "On the Occurrence of Metaisocymene in Rosin Oil."
  
  
• 1887: Archives de zoologie experimentale et generale, Volume 15, Page 38, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France)
  
  
• 1902: Huxley Memorial Lecture, Page 61, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
  
  
• 1903: Les phénomènes psychiques: recherches, observations, méthodes, Page 201, J. Maxwell
  
  
• 1905: Annales des sciences psychiques, Volume 15, Page 43, Société universelle d'études psychiques
  
  
• 1905: The Annals of psychical science: A journal devoted to critical and experimental research in the phenomena of spiritism, Volume 1, Page 60, Laura I. Finch, Caesar de Vesme, Dudley Wright
  
  
• 1905: Metapsychical Phenomena: Methods and Observations, Page 122, By Joseph Maxwell, Charles Robert Richet

• 1906: Review of Theology & Philosophy, Volume 1, Page 448, Allan Menzies

By 1908, the term appears in the journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, the oldest psychical research organization in the United States. Founded in 1885, the ASPR was led by an amazing array of scholars and scientists. Amongst their ranks were Harvard psychologist and Professor of Philosophy, William James, and others were renowned pioneers in psychology, psychiatry, physics and astronomy. While it might surprise some that they were dabbling in what was considered the occult or the metaphysical, even today we find scientists reaching out beyond traditional fields to find answers science has yet to provide.

Even if they were searching for ghosts, scanning the night sky for UFOs or considering the possibilities of Bigfoot, with the term falling into favor with such celebrated minds, its easy for one to see how paranormal made the crossover from an obscure word relegated to stuffy scientific and medical journals into the everyday language of the world.