| 释义 |
-mancy
a terminal element, repr. OF. -mancie, late L. -mantīa, Gr. µαντεία divination, f. µαντεύεσθαι to prophesy, f. µάντις prophet, diviner. Some of the words with this ending go back to compounds recorded in classical or post-classical Greek, as chiromancy, necromancy, ornithomancy, pyromancy; others appear in late or med.Lat., and represent regularly formed compounds which prob. existed in late Gr., or were formed by persons familiar with that language, as geomancy, hydromancy; others have been formed after the revival of Greek learning on assumed Gr. types, as crystallomancy, lithomancy. No hybrid compound of -mancy seems to have been admitted into general Eng. use: for some suggested formations of this type see quot. 1709. The related adjs. end in -mantic.
c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 869 Adryomancy, Œnomancy, with Pyromancy, Fysenancy also, and Pawmestry. 1709J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (ed. 2) 374 There are lines in the Neck, the Forehead, the Lips, the Hams, the Elbows, and the bottom of the Buttocks..and therefore..as there is Chiromancy, there ought to be Frontimancy, Collimancy, Pedimancy, Natimancy. |