oneirocrisy
English
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ὄνειρος (óneiros, “dream”) + the middle voice of κρίνω (krínō, “I separate, judge, decide”).
Noun
oneirocrisy (uncountable)
- Prognostication based on the interpretation of dreams.
- 1842, Charles Daubuz, Peter Lancaster, Matthew Habershon, A symbolical dictionary, page 175:
- Having consulted his father thereupon, well skilled in Oneirocrisy, he called his son Kilkhan, and explained them thus: That according to the first dream, out of the progeny of Kilkhan should arise three princes which should possess the empire of the Moguls, and should transmit it to a fourth, who should subjugate a great part of the world, and divide it amongst his children.
- 1852, ,Abraham Moore Pindar, The Odes of Pindar, page 196:
- It seems clear that he was a proficient in this art of oneirocrisy ; it being the practice after his apotheosis (for he became a god) for his worshippers to sleep beside his altar in the pious hope of a prophetic dream.
- 1975, David Sansone, Aeschylean metaphors for intellectual activity, page 42:
- The three types are oneirocrisy, cledonomancy and the investigation of chance omens encountered "on the way", i.e. while traveling.
- 1987, Titus Burckhardt, William Stoddart, Mirror of the Intellect, page 57:
- There exists, nevertheless, a certain category of dreams, well-known to traditional oneirocrisy, the memory of which persists with an incisive clarity, and this can happen even if the profound content of these dreams appears to conceal itself.