Trasumanar (neologism): Moon, Paradiso 1   Claiming that his ascent from the Terrestrial Paradise to the celestial realm of the blessed cannot be expressed adequately in words, Dante invents the word trasumanar ("to transhumanize, to pass beyond the human"), the first of many neologisms in the Paradiso. He compares the internal transformation he undergoes during this ascent to the change experienced by Glaucus, a fisherman-turned-god whose story contains several parallels with Dante's journey. Glaucus found a piece of land along the shore that was completely untouched by human civilization, a place of pristine beauty. He observed that the fish he caught became animated as soon as they touched the grass and that they then escaped en masse back into the water. Understandably amazed, Glaucus chewed several blades of the grass; seized with an irresistible longing for the sea, he bid the earth farewell and dove into the water, where he was received by the sea gods and "deemed worthy to join their company." Glaucus was then purified of his mortal elements and cleansed of sin (after reciting a charm nine times and immersing himself in one hundred rivers), thus becoming immortal himself. As a sea god Glaucus fell in love with Scylla, but the girl rejected his love and was turned into a monster (her lower body transformed into a pack of dogs) by the enchantress Circe after she, in turn, had been rebuffed by Glaucus (who had gone to her for assistance in winning the love of Scylla) (Ovid, Met. 13.900-14.69).