necromancy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the supposed practice of communicating with the dead, especially to obtain hidden knowledge or predict the future

   The legend accused the seer of using necromancy to question the spirits of dead kings.

2. 2
   noun

   magic or sorcery involving death, corpses, or the raising of the dead

   In the fantasy novel, necromancy allows the villain to animate an army of skeletons.

From Middle English nigromancye, through Old French and Medieval Latin, ultimately from Greek nekromanteia: nekros, "dead body," + manteia, "divination." Medieval spellings were influenced by Latin niger, "black," which helped associate the practice with black magic; the modern spelling restores the Greek necro-.

Topics