astragalomancy
English edit
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek ἀστράγαλος (astrágalos) + -mancy.
Noun edit
astragalomancy (uncountable)
- Divination by dice made from huckle-bones. They have four flat sides and two round sides which were marked.
- Divination by throwing astragaloi (see etymology above) onto the pages of a picture book.
- Simply divination by dice.
Quotations edit
- 1640, E. Chilmead, trans., Love Melancholy, translation of original by Jacques Ferrand:
- "kinde of divination by the opening of a booke at all adventures..." He adds, "I shall omit to speak here of astragalomancy, that was done with huckle bones; ceromancy, and all other such like fooleries."
- [1973, Walter B. Gibson, Litzka R. Gibson, The Complete Illustrated Book of Divination and Prophecy, London: Souvenir Press, published 1987, →ISBN, page 312:
- ASTRAGALOMANCY or ASTRAGYROMANCY: Divination with dice, ranging from crude bones with primitive markings to cubes bearing spots, letters, or cabalistic symbols, all interpreted by the bone caster.]
- 1983, Complete Bk Predictions:
- Astragalomancy: Today this is a form of divination using two dice, but originally a pair of astragals (probably the left and right ankle-bones of a sheep) would have been used.
Synonyms edit
Translations edit
divination by dice made from huckle-bones
|
throwing such dice onto a book
simply divination by dice
Further reading edit
astragalomancy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
