Onomancy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The practice of foretelling the future by analyzing the letters or sounds of names or words
2. A method of prediction that involves interpreting the meanings or arrangements of words or names
3. A technique of divination based on examining the significance of names or words to reveal hidden insights

Etymology: Onomancy is a compound built from two Greek elements. The first, "ónoma," means "name," and the second, the suffix "-mancy," comes from "manteia," meaning "divination" or "prophecy." Put together, the word describes divination carried out through names, or through the words and letters that make them up. The same pattern gives many other divination terms in English, such as "necromancy" (divination by consulting the dead) and "geomancy" (divination by patterns in the earth or sand). Onomancy belongs to this family, and a close relative, "nomancy," is formed the same way from a different Greek root, "nomos," meaning "law" or "custom" in its general sense. The word therefore needs no special story: it is a transparent coinage, assembled from familiar Greek parts to name a practice that treats a name's letters, sounds, or arrangement as a source of hidden meaning.