nigromancy

English

Alternative forms

• igramansie, igramansy, igrimansie, nagramisse, negromancie, negromancy, nicromansie, nicromancy, nigomancy, nigramansy, nigromansie, nycromancie, nycromancy, nygramyce, nygramyssy, nygromansie (mostly obsolete)

Etymology

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɪɡɹə(ʊ)mansi/

Noun

nigromancy (countable and uncountable, plural nigromancies)

1. (now historical) Necromancy; magic involving death. [from 14th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (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

• acronyming