arithmancy
Apr. 18th, 2017 07:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordarithmancy (AR-ith-man-see) - n., divination by numbers.
Especially, divination by assigning number values to the letters of a name or word, certain values being considered auspicious or not so good. As done in the Latin alphabet, it's a simplified version of ancient Greek isopsephy or Hebrew/Aramaic gematria. Coined in the 1570s from Greek roots arithmos, number + manteia, divination. The alternative spelling arithmomancy dates from the 1620s.
---L.
Especially, divination by assigning number values to the letters of a name or word, certain values being considered auspicious or not so good. As done in the Latin alphabet, it's a simplified version of ancient Greek isopsephy or Hebrew/Aramaic gematria. Coined in the 1570s from Greek roots arithmos, number + manteia, divination. The alternative spelling arithmomancy dates from the 1620s.
---L.
