Alphitomancy
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An Ancient Greek method of divination using barley meal, used for instance to reveal guilty parties; it entailed feeding a person or group barley meal, and judging those who felt no effects to be innocent, while judging those who felt indigestion to be guilty. uncountable
"Aleuromancy and alphitomancy were almost analogous processes; cakes were made of wheat or barley flour which could not be swallowed by anyone guilty of a given misdeed."
Example
More examples"Aleuromancy and alphitomancy were almost analogous processes; cakes were made of wheat or barley flour which could not be swallowed by anyone guilty of a given misdeed."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἀλφῐτόμαντις (alphĭtómantis, “diviner who used barley meal”), from ἄλφῐτον (álphĭton, “barley meal”) and μαντεία (manteía, “prophecy”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.