haruspicy

English

Alternative forms

• aruspicy

Etymology

From Latin haruspicium, from haruspex (“diviner of entrails”) + -ium (forming abstract nouns).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /həˈɹʌspɪsi/

Noun

haruspicy (countable and uncountable, plural haruspicies)

1. Divination by use of animal entrails, usually the victims of sacrifice.
   • 1807, Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, Volume 1, Whitehall, page 238:

     Different kinds of divination, which have passed for sciences, we have had: […] 6. Haruspicy, by inspecting the bowels of animals. […]

   • 1825, Horace Smith, Gaieties and Gravities: A Series of Essays, Comic Tales, and Fugitive Vagaries, Volume II, H. Colburn, page 333:

     That our fates should be made dependent upon the stars, planets, and constellations, however preposterous a conceit, at least imparts a dignity to our nature by conjoining earth with Heaven: but that the doom of kings, empires, and individuals, should be regulated […] by the entrails of victims, as analysed by the butchers of Haruspicy […] is an evidence of stupid credulity that levels civilised man to the savage […]

Synonyms

• extispicy

Hyponyms

• hepatomancy, hepatoscopy (haruspicy using livers)

Coordinate terms

• haruspex (a practicer of haruspicy)

Translations

divination by entrails

• French: extispice (fr) m, haruspice (fr)
• Latin: extispicium n, haruspicium n