belomancy
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Ancient Greek βέλος (bélos, “an arrow, dart”) + -mancy.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
belomancy (uncountable)
- Studying the flight of arrows, an ancient form of divination used by the Greeks and Arabs.
See also edit
References edit
- "For the king of Babylon will stop at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He will cast lots with his arrows..." -- Ezekiel 21:21, Bible
- "Of this kinde of Rhabdomancy was that practised by Nabuchadonosor in the Chaldean miscellany, delivered by Ezekiel. A like way of Belomancy or Divination by Arrowes hath been in request with Scythians, Alanes, Germans, with the Africans and Turks of Algiers." -- Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Browne 1646