Nigremance

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for black magic, especially the practice of summoning spirits of the dead to foretell the future
2. Old word for dark sorcery, particularly the art of raising the dead to learn hidden knowledge
3. A medieval name for the forbidden craft of communicating with the departed to reveal secrets about what lies ahead

Etymology: "Nigremance" is an older English spelling of "necromancy," and the story behind it is a case of medieval scholars reading a word through a more familiar one. The Greek original, "nekromanteia," joined "nekros" (dead body) to "manteia" (divination), so it meant divination by consulting the dead. Over the centuries, Latin writers and their readers linked the first part to "niger," meaning black, and so the Latin form became "nigromantia," a sort of black art. The spelling stuck in Old French and then in English. The English form shows the same shift, with "nigromancy" and "nigremance" used alongside the later "necromancy." The "-ance" ending matches the French spelling of the period. Modern English returned to the Greek spelling, so the black-magic reading survives only in the older form.