ornithomancy

Etymology

From ornitho- + -mancy.

ornithomancy means divination by means of birds, especially from their behaviour, flight, vocalisations, etc. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why this word is great

ORNITHOMANCY — [Noun] The practice of divining the future or interpreting divine will by observing the flight, calls, and behavior of birds. From the Greek ornitho- ("bird") + -mancy ("divination"). Unlike augury, the broader Roman discipline of reading all natural signs, or alectryomancy, the cramped ritual of a rooster pecking at grain on letters, ornithomancy is the ancient, sprawling grammar of the open sky. It is decoding the urgent script of a fleeing flock, hearing in the dawn chorus a coded debate of the gods, or tracing the lone hawk's circling patience into a prophecy of delay. This is the conviction that meaning is not invented, but whispered through the only creatures free enough to traverse the entire domain between earth and heaven.

noun

Divination by means of birds, especially from their behaviour, flight, vocalisations, etc.“This chapter in the great volume of superstition was indeed cultivated with unusual solicitude amongst the Pagans - ornithomancy (or the derivation of omens from the motions of birds) grew into an elaborate science.”