mantic
- adjective
- /ˈmæntɪk/
- Literature
:
mántico
- Together, the seven vignettes on the S. Marco bowl reflect an array of mantic associations, including oracular, necromantic, and augural.
- ancient mantic
Examples
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A variety of textual and visual corroborations must be considered in order to establish a fuller picture of Byzantine awareness of ancient mantic traditions in the eleventh to twelfth centuries.
Academic text (2008) -
Furthermore, as a messenger of the gods, Hermes was responsible for the effective transmission of words between humankind and its deities, another association that made him a desirable assistant in mantic consultations.
Academic text (2008) -
Rather than deities, they represent a different category of ancient mantic figures: heroes.
Academic text (2008) -
Lecanomancy and hydromancy were ancient mantic, or divinatory, techniques with relatively consistent textual traditions until at least the fifteenth century.
Academic text (2008) -
By binding together classicizing iconography and exoticizing inscriptions on this mantic device, the maker positioned the object outside Byzantine identity, at a comfortable remove from the presumably Christian user.
Academic text (2008) -
The use of runes, engraved on stone, bone, or wood, for purposes of divination and prophecy, parallels other mantic procedures, such as the Chinese yarrow-stalk oracle or the African bone game.
Academic text (1990) -
Nonetheless, certain of the figures depicted possess clear mantic associations—especially the augur, Apollo, Hermes, and Zeus—and could direct the reading of less obviously divinatory characters.
Academic text (2008) -
Maria Mavroudi demonstrates that in the tenth and eleventh centuries, certain Byzantine manuals for dream interpretation, another field of mantic knowledge, were translated from medieval Arabic sources that in turn had been copied from classical and late antique versions.
Academic text (2008) -
The ancient Greeks consulted mantic oracles to gain insight into their futures.
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Many cultures developed mantic practices, believing they held the key to understanding divine messages.
Synonyms
33
7.4
Saying or showing what will happen in the future, often as if from a spiritual source
1
9.1
Saying that something will happen in the future, often by a religious person
1
9.9
Like a wise person's opinion that people accept as final
Showing or saying what will happen in the future
Like something that predicts future events
Like a warning that seems to predict future events
Relating to ways people try to tell the future
Mysterious and hard to understand, like a prophecy
How Prophetic
Surface Forms
Morphology
mantic = mantis (opaque) = mant + ic
The suffix '-ic' is productive, but the root 'mant-' is a non-standalone combining form (not a familiar English base), so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from known English vocabulary.
Etymology
The word mantic comes from an old Greek word mantis meaning 'seer' or 'prophet'. The same root appears in the insect name mantis, as in 'praying mantis', so mantic means 'relating to prophecy' or 'telling the future'.