English

cledonomancy

Cledonomancy comes from Ancient Greek κληδών ‘an omen’, from κλέος ‘fame, glory’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- ‘to hear’.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

¹ Wiktionary, Proto-Hellenic *kléwos
² Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κλέος
³ Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κληδών
⁴ Wiktionary, English cledonomancy
Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1911, Encyc. of Religion & Ethics:: “The consultant whispered his questions into the god's ear,…”.

Lineage

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱlew-1Wiktionary, Proto-Hellenic *kléwos‘to hear’reconstructed
Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱléwos1Wiktionary, Proto-Hellenic *kléwos‘fame’reconstructed
Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kléwos2Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κλέος‘fame’reconstructed
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκλέος3Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κληδώνkléos‘fame, glory’
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκληδών4Wiktionary, English cledonomancyklēdṓn‘an omen’
Englishearliest quotation 1911cledonomancy4Wiktionary, English cledonomancy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1911, Encyc. of Religion & Ethics:: “The consultant whispered his questions into the god's ear,…”

noun Divination through interpreting chance remarks or events.

Sources: Wiktionary, “cledonomancy”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Hellenic *kléwos, Ancient Greek κλέος, Ancient Greek κληδών. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.