Nigromancy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Foretelling the future or uncovering hidden knowledge by summoning and consulting the spirits of the dead
2. An archaic term for the black art of raising or questioning the deceased to gain occult insight
3. The practice of contacting departed souls through rituals in order to learn secrets or predict events

Etymology: "Nigromancy" is an older spelling of "necromancy," and the mix-up that produced it is the interesting part. The true root is Greek: "nekromanteia" joined "nekros" (dead body) and "manteia" (divination), describing the practice of consulting the dead. Medieval Latin writers, however, reshaped the word, substituting the Latin "niger" (black) for the first element, so that the form "nigromantia" took hold. The result is a blend in which "black" was grafted onto a word about the dead, and the Latin form then passed into Old French as "nigremance" before reaching Middle English as "nigromauncy." The "black" was not a neutral choice. The folk-etymological reshaping thus made the word sound like what people already believed it was: a sinister, black craft. The spelling "nigromancy" therefore reflects a learned writer's confusion, not a different underlying idea.