nigromancy

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English nigromauncy, from Old French nigromancie, nigremance, from Late Latin nigromantia, a blend of niger (black) and necromantīa (necromancy). Compare black art.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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nigromancy (countable and uncountable, plural nigromancies)

  1. (now historical) Necromancy; magic involving death. [from 14th c.]
    • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle [], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., [], →OCLC:
      But ah! celestial enchantress! the negromancy of thy tyrannical charms hath fettered my faculties with adamantine chains [] .
    • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. [], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: [] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. [], →OCLC:
      "I hope thou wilt bring with thee Rebecca, even the scholar of the wise Miriam, whose cures the Gentiles slandered as if they had been wrought by nigromancy."
    • 1999, Paracelsus, “Astronomia Magna”, in Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, transl., Essential Readings, North Atlantic Books, page 126:
      Whoever can deal with these mortal spirits and command them to do his business is proficient in the second species of nigromancy.

Anagrams

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