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cromniomancy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
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English
Etymology
From Ancient Greek κρόμμῠον (krómmuon, “onion”) + -mancy.
Noun
cromniomancy (uncountable)
- Divination by onions or onion sprouts.
- 1660, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy in Brand Popular Antiquities (1844) iii.
- Burton speaks of "cromnysmantia," a kind of divination with onions laid on the altar at Christmas Eve, practised by girls, to know when they shall be married, and how many husbands they shall have. This appears also to have been a German custom.
1931, Lock tr. de Givry, Picture Museum of Sorcery:cromniomancy consisted of laying onions on which certain names had been written upon the altar on Christmas Day; when these were planted the one which sprouted first would give the required indication.