divining rod

English

Noun

divining rod (plural divining rods)

1. Rod used for dowsing, a technique of divination used to locate subterranean sources of water, metal, other mineral resources or even various other things through magic, or according to many believers a natural phenomenon.

   Synonyms: dowsing rod, dowser, (obsolete) virgula, doodlebug

Translations

rod used for dowsing

• Czech: virgule (cs) f
• Danish: ønskekvist c
• Dutch: wichelroede (nl) f, wichelstok m
• Esperanto: rabdo
• Faroese: spákvistur m
• Finnish: taikavarpu (fi)
• French: baguette de coudrier (fr) f, baguette de sourcier (fr) f, baguette divinatoire f
• German: Wünschelrute (de) f
• Greek: ράβδος υδροσκόπου f (rávdos ydroskópou)
• Hungarian: varázsvessző (hu)
• Latin: virgula divina f, virgula divinatoria f
• Occitan: devinet m, bròca de devinaire f
• Swedish: slagruta (sv) c
• Volapük: vaälatuigül

See also

• diviner
• rhabdomantist (“one adept at using a divining rod”)

Further reading

• dowsing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Divining-rod in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967