oenomancy means divination by studying wine. It carries an Arena rating of 1346, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, oenomancy ranks #771 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #1,786 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #3,278 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #3,587 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
Why “oenomancy” is a great word
The art of divination through interpreting the patterns, appearance, or behavior of wine. From Ancient Greek οἶνος (oînos, "wine") + μαντεία (manteía, "divination"), it was first attested in English in 1652. Unlike libanomancy, which reads portents in the curling smoke of incense, or oenology, the sober science of viticulture, oenomancy seeks the future in the swirl of a liquid oracle. It is the seer tilting a clay cup to watch the dregs settle into a map of continents, the augur noting how the libation beads and runs down the side of a chalice like tears, and the supplicant gazing into a deep, dark vintage as if into a pool of time—a ritual where the very spirit of the grape is asked to betray the uncertain shape of things to come.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek οἶνος (oînos, “wine”) in conjunction with μαντεία (manteía, “divination”). By surface analysis, oeno- + -mancy.
noun
- divination by studying wine
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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