haruspex
Americannoun
-
haruspices
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of haruspex
First recorded in 1575–85; from Latin, equivalent to haru- (akin to hīra “intestine”; see chord 1) + spec- (stem of specere “to look at”) + -s nominative singular ending
Explanation
In ancient Rome, a haruspex was someone who told the future using omens they found in the bodies of animals that had been sacrificed to the gods. A particular kind of soothsayer or fortune teller, a haruspex had the distasteful job of examining the internal organs of dead animals. Many ancient civilizations held the belief that messages from the gods, as well as portents of future events, could be found in animals' entrails by a knowledgeable haruspex. The word haruspex means "soothsayer by means of entrails," and is derived from the roots spek, "to observe," and ghere-, "gut or entrail."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In ancient times, there would have been some official haruspex charged with picking over the entrails of a sacrificial offering ahead of any important occasion.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 22, 2010
We might be told of the early history of Anatomy, when, from the entrails of birds and animals, the haruspex prognosticated the fate of empires and the fortunes of battle.
From Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws by James Buchanan
It was a case where neither could say anything to the other, though Cato might wonder quod non rideret haruspex, haruspicem cum vidisset.
From The Book-Hunter A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by John Hill Burton
Manlius assisted in bringing the animals selected for victims to the haruspex.
From A Christian But a Roman by Mór Jókai
Cato, the Censor, is on record as saying "that he wondered how one haruspex could look another in the face without laughing!"
From Wind and Weather by Alexander McAdie
Hence his every action is scrutinized and picked to bits, as Etruscan haruspices once examined sacrificial livers for a sign of the future.
From Time Magazine Archive
No time should be lost in consulting haruspices and augurs, nor in devotion to cults which oblige the citizen to abandon his house.
From Sónnica by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Temples were erected to Thetis, Diana, Flora, etc., and peasants went about dressed up as haruspices and augurs.
From Etruria was introduced the art of the haruspices, or soothsayers, which consisted in discovering the divine mind by the appearance of victims slain for the sacrifices.
From General History for Colleges and High Schools by Philip Van Ness Myers
No other people in Christendom produces so vast a crop of tin-horn haruspices.
From A Book of Prefaces by H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
