nec·ro·man·cy

Nec·ro·man·cy [ˈnɛkrəʊˌmænsɪ] -- noun

1. A form of magic in which the practitioner seeks to summon the spirit of a dead person, either as an apparition or ghost, or to raise them bodily, for the purpose of divination.


2. Black magic; Sorcery.

The word necromancy derives from the Greek νεκρός (nekrós), "dead body", and μαντεία (manteía), "prophecy, divination". The compound νεκρομαντεία itself is post-classical, first used by Origen in the 3rd century. The classical Greek term is nekyia (ἡ νέκυια), in Hellenistic Greek also νεκυιομαντεία, rendered in Latin as necyomantia and in 17th century English as necyomancy.

Quote:

"The third sister, Morgan le Fey, was put to scole in a nonnery, and ther she lerned so moche that she was a grete clerke of nygromancye. -- Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory