This week's theme: words related to forecasting and divination. haruspicy (hur-RUS-puh-see) noun
Divination by inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals. [From Latin haruspicium, from haruspex, from hira (entrails) + specere (to look at).] An ancient Roman priest who performed haruspicy was called a haruspex. The liver was the popular organ of choice in haruspicy. -Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org) "Figuring out where the economy is headed often seems like a modern version of haruspicy." The Diviners Say: Let It Fall; The Los Angeles Times; Aug 20, 2001. Sponsored by: Always find the right word with the Visual Thesaurus. Wordsmith readers save 10%. Try it free! http://www.visualthesaurus.com/?code=qt4&ad=aw Perfect your French, German, Spanish or Italian with Champs-Elysees audio magazines on foreign life & culture. http://ads.champs-elysees.com/wsmith3 ............................................................................ The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself. -Archibald MacLeish, poet and librarian (1892-1982) Looking for word/quotation archives: http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Unsubscribe, change address, etc: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/haruspicy.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/haruspicy.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/haruspicy.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
