Aruspicy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The art of using the examination of animal entrails to divine the future is often categorized as a specific type of prophetic practice
2. This ancient practice, which focuses on the interpretation of sacrificed animal organs, serves as a means of foretelling upcoming events
3. A prophetic method that involves analyzing the internal organs of animals to predict future occurrences is rooted in ancient traditions

Etymology: Ancient Rome had an official office for reading the future in animal guts, and the Latin word for its practitioner, "haruspex", was built from two parts: "hara", an old word for an animal's entrails, and "specere", "to look at." The practice was taken seriously enough that Roman magistrates consulted haruspices before major decisions, and the Etruscans, whose priests the Romans borrowed the method from, were regarded as its original experts. "Aruspicy" is an alternative spelling of "haruspicy", the English noun for the art itself. It comes from Latin "haruspicium", which is "haruspex" plus the suffix "-ium", a standard Latin ending that turns a person-word into a noun for the activity or office associated with that person. So the English word names the craft of the entrail-reader, not the reader alone. The spelling "aruspicy" simply drops the initial "h" that appears in the Latin original, a form that English writers used alongside "haruspicy".