Sentence:  ... beast-shaped, sphinx-pouched features of the primal face. I recalled the dicta of certain profoundly experienced men, that evil would come of their telling all they knew. I thought of the strange adages, that one should give up searching for the ultimate words that need only be spoken to unhinge heaven and earth. I sniffed in masks, I rattled in runes, I dove into demons with sleep-craving brutality, with mythical instincts, in the <WSD>anteverbal</WSD>, instinctual threat of prehistoric neura; I began to ... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Prior to being verbal (using words).