gastromancy
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 0.00 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Divination by noting magical visions in large-bellied glasses, sometimes described as a technique where a child is placed in front of a glass filled with water, the images in the glass then interpreted. Similar to crystallomancy.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "1693 Urquhart translating Rabelais Gargantua & Pantagruel iii. xxv. By Gastromancy, which kind of ventral Fatiloquency was for a long time together used in Ferrara by Lady Giacoma Rodogina, the Eugastrimythian Prophetess."
- "1610 Vives in J. Healey Saint Augustine of the Citie of God Diuination generally was done by diuers means..Hydromancy..done either in a glasse bottle full of water, wherein a Childe must looke, (and this is called, Gastromancy of the glasses belly)..."
- "The methods [of scrying] varied according to the nature of the shiny object used and the medium employed... Sometimes the term gastromancy ('divination by the belly') was used, because the vessel filled with water was called gastra 'belly-shaped vessel'."
Etymology
From gastro- + -mancy.
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
gastronomancy (alternative)