macharomancy means divination by interpreting swords, daggers and knives. This was popular in Scotland where on July 31st it was performed to predict the deaths and marriages of the following year. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 89 out of 100.
Why “macharomancy” is a great word
MACHAROMANCY — [Noun] Divination by interpreting the positions, patterns, or gleams of swords, daggers, and knives. From Ancient Greek μαχαίρα (makhaíra, "dagger, short sword") + -μαντεία (-manteía, "divination, prophecy"). Unlike molybdomancy, which reads the forms of cooling metals, or cleromancy, which casts impersonal lots, macharomancy is a deliberate consultation of cold steel. It is the gleam of a dirk laid upon a midnight table, the ominous pattern of crossed blades on stone, and the silent scrutiny of a point tilting toward a grave or a bridal bed—a seeking of fate in the very instrument crafted to enact it.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μαχαίρα (makhaíra, “dagger”) + -mancy.
noun
- Divination by interpreting swords, daggers and knives. This was popular in Scotland where on July 31st it was performed to predict the deaths and marriages of the following year.“1652, Gaule The Magastromancer xix.
Macharomancy, by knives or swords […]”