Mancer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A practitioner or specialist in a specific form of divination or magic related to a particular element or aspect, such as necromancy for the dead or pyromancy for fire
2. An individual who engages in a type of divinatory art or sorcery based on the manipulation of a specific force or phenomenon, often involving supernatural abilities
3. Someone who performs various forms of magic or fortune-telling linked to a particular domain or power, often designated by the prefix describing that realm

Etymology: "Mancer" is a back-formation, built by stripping an ending off words that already existed. The model words were formed on Greek "manteia," meaning divination or prophecy, which gave English words like "necromancy," "geomancy" and "pyromancy," all of which end in "-mancy" and describe a practice. Speakers who had those words in hand could split off "-mancy" and treat the remainder as a separate ending, so "-mancer" was reinterpreted as a suffix meaning "one who practises" that kind of divination. The result is that "mancer" was never a Greek word and was not coined as a single deliberate term. It emerged from the patterns of existing English vocabulary, and its meaning widened beyond divination to cover any supposed magical power tied to a particular domain, which is why it now appears in fantasy writing and games with prefixes such as "necro-" or "pyro-" attached to it.

Synonyms: diviner, soothsayer, seer, oracle, fortune-teller