Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1580s, from Latin haruspex (plural haruspices) "soothsayer by means of entrails," first element from PIE *ghere- "gut, entrail" (see yarn); second element from Latin spic- "beholding, inspecting," from PIE *speks "he who sees," from root *spek- "to observe" (see scope (n.1)). The practice is Etruscan. Related: Haruspical; haruspication.
Wiktionary
n. A soothsayer or priest in Ancient Rome (originally Etruscan) who practiced divination by inspecting entrails.
Wikipedia
In the religion of Ancient Rome, a haruspex (plural haruspices; also called aruspex) was a person trained to practice a form of divination called haruspicy (haruspicina) the inspection of the entrails ( exta), hence also extispicy (extispicium) of sacrificed animals, especially the livers of sacrificed sheep and poultry. The reading of omens specifically from the liver is also known by the Greek term hepatoscopy (also hepatomancy).
The Roman concept is directly derived from Etruscan religion, as one of the three branches of the disciplina Etrusca. Such methods continued to be used into the Middle Ages, with Thomas Becket apparently consulting both an aruspex and a chiromancer prior to a royal expedition against Brittany.
The Latin terms haruspex, haruspicina are from an archaic word haru "entrails, intestines" (cognate with hernia "protruding viscera", and hira "empty gut"; PIE *ǵʰer-) and from the root spec- "to watch, observe". The Greek ἡπατοσκοπία hēpatoskōpia is from hēpar "liver" and '' skop- "to examine".
Haruspex is a genus of beetles in the family Cerambycidae, containing these species:
- Haruspex bivittis (White, 1855)
- Haruspex brevipes (White, 1855)
- Haruspex celatus Lane, 1970
- Haruspex daithmus Martins, 1976
- Haruspex inscriptus Gahan, 1895
- Haruspex insulsus Martins & Galileo, 2005
- Haruspex lineolatus Bates, 1870
- Haruspex mentitus Martins, 1976
- Haruspex modestus (White, 1855)
- Haruspex ornatus Bates, 1870
- Haruspex pictilis Martins, 1976
- Haruspex quadripustulatus Gounelle, 1909
- Haruspex submaculatus (White, 1855)
Usage examples of "haruspex".
At the pylon, the princess descended from her chariot, and preceded by the chief of the haruspices, who had gravely and silently greeted her, passed on to the door of the temple.
The head of the haruspices of the House of Seti was the most determined adversary of the poet who had so early been initiated into the mysteries, and whose keen intellect often shook those very ramparts which the zealous old man had, from conviction, labored to strengthen from his youth up.
At a second, in the temple of Hatasu, they were surprised by Septah, the chief of the haruspices of the House of Seti.
The principals of the different orders of priests had also found places at the table, and among them the chief of the haruspices, while the rest of the priests, all in snow-white linen robes, sat, with much dignity, in a large semicircle, two rows deep.
There is hardly any end to the haruspices, the pastophori with the standards, the images of the Gods, and the flocks and herds for sacrifice.
The news of the end of the sacred ram of Anion, and of the death of the bull Apis of Memphis, had reached the House of Seti, and was received there with loud lamentation, in which all its inhabitants joined, from the chief haruspex down to the smallest boy in the school-courts.
The art of magic, as it was more cruelly punished, was more strictly proscribed: but the emperor admitted a formal distinction to protect the ancient methods of divination, which were approved by the senate, and exercised by the Tuscan haruspices.
They listen with confidence to the predictions of haruspices, who pretend to read, in the entrails of victims, the signs of future greatness and prosperity.
The anxiety of Attila prompted him to consult his priests and haruspices.
The art of magic, as it was more cruelly punished, was more strictly proscribed: but the emperor admitted a formal distinction to protect the ancient methods of divination, which were approved by the senate, and exercised by the Tuscan haruspices.
It is near Turia, in the spring, that the Omen Year is completed, when the omens are taken usually over several days by hundreds of haruspexes, mostly readers of bosk blood and verr livers, to determine if they are favourable for a choosing of a Ubar San, a One Ubar, a Ubar who would be High Ubar, a Ubar of all the Wagons, a Ubar of all the Peoples, one who could lead them as one people.