divination

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English divinacioun,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French divination, recorded from the 13th century,^[2][5] and in part directly borrowed from Latin dīvīnātiō (“the power of foreseeing, prediction”).^[3][6][4] The Latin word is a noun of action from the past participle stem of dīvīnō (“to foresee, foretell”), literally "to be inspired by a god",^[2][5] from dīvīnus (“of a god”), from dīvus (“a god”), which is related to deus (“god”) and comes from Proto-Indo-European *dyeu- (“to shine”), in its derivatives "sky, heaven, god".^[2] The OED derives the English word only from French,^[5] Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Dictionary of English from Latin,^[4][7] and Dictionary.com brings it from Latin through Anglo-French.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The foretelling of the future, or the discovery of what is hidden, by supernatural or magical means: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century,^[2] and Chaucer uses the word twice in all.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Middle English writers used it for foretelling from present signs, as of birds, and for the interpretation of dreams.^[3] In 1605 Francis Bacon divided it into "artificial" divination, a prediction argued from signs and tokens, and "natural" divination, a foreboding that comes from an inner power without any sign.^[2] From the supernatural the word weakened to mere insight: the OED first finds "prevision or guessing by happy instinct" in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2 (1600),^[5] although the Shorter Oxford dates the sense to late Middle English.^[6] Johnson (1755) still defined it as the prediction of secret things that no human means can discover.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – foretelling or discovery of hidden things by supernatural means.^[5]
• 1600 – successful guessing by instinct or unusual insight.^[5]
• 1603 – divine condition, divinity.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The art or practice of seeking to foresee the future or to discover hidden knowledge by supernatural means, as by augury: The priests practised divination by reading the flight of crows.^[4][11][5]
2. An instance of this; a prophecy.^[11][6]
3. Unusual insight or intuition; a skilful forecast or a good guess.^[4][6][11]

Word family

• divinatory

Related words

• divine
• divinity
• deity

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins