Forms: α. 4 zoþ ziggere, sothsogger(e, 4 soþ-, sothseyere, -seiere, 5 -seyer, 5–6 -sayer, 6 sothe-, soythsayer, 6 soothsaier, 7– soothsayer. β. 6 southeseyer, 6–7 southsaier, 6–8 -sayer. [f. SOOTH sb. or a. + SAYER sb.]
† 1. One who speaks the truth; a truthful or veracious person. Obs.
1340. Ayenb., 256. Senekes zayþ þet þer ne lackeþ to greate lhordes bote zoþ ziggeres. Vor hi habbeþ lyeȝeres and vlatours to greate cheape and veawe zoþ ziggeres.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 164. The Sothseiere tho was lief, which wolde noght the trouthe spare.
c. 1400. in Herrig, Archiv, CIV. 306. Bettre is chidyng of a soþ-seyere Þen deceyuyng of a losyngere.
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect., Wks. 1851, III. 306. But in that which followes, he does not play the Soothsayer but the diabolick slanderer of prayers.
2. One who claims or pretends to the power of foretelling future events; a predictor, prognosticator.
α. 1381. Rolls of Parlt., III. 113/. Johannes Say, Sothseggere.
14[?]. Lat.-Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 595. Mastromaticus, a sothseyer.
c. 1491. Chast. Goddes Chyld., 53. Some sheew prophecye in the spyrite of deuil as ben thise men and wymen whiche men calle dyuynours or sothsayers.
1535. Coverdale, Isaiah viii. 19. Yf they saye vnto you: aske councel at the soythsayers, witches, charmers and coniurers.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., II. v. Sow-gelders, and Sooth-saiers. Gipsies and Iaylers.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., I. ii. 2. Where’s the Soothsayer that you prais’d so to th’ Queene?
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low-C. Warrs, 965. While their Sooth-sayers … draw the Peoples minds changable by Superstition, now this way, now that way.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. VII. 36. We are guided here by priests and soothsayers.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, II. 1015. Merops, expert in the sooth-sayer’s art.
1821. Byron, Sardanap., II. i. Now were I a soothsayer, I would have boded so much to myself.
1878. J. H. Gray, China, II. xvii. 3. Blind soothsayers are to be met with in all parts of the empire.
β. 1503. Churchw. Acc. St. Marg., Westm. (Nichols, 1797), 4. Recieved of the Southeseyer for iv Tapers.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 27. Jone the Puzel, whom he vsed as an oracle and a southsaier.
1596. Lodge, Divel Coniured, G iij. Some be shepheards, some southsaiers, and so of other crafts and trades.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. III. ii. 125. Some Southsayer, wise-man, fortune-teller, or Physition.
1650. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep. (ed. 2), I. iv. 12. On this foundation were built the conclusions of Southsayers in their Auguriall, and Tripudiary divinations.
1727. De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. i. (1840), 20. By this study they obtained the name of southsayers and astrologers, added to that of magicians.
3. transf. An insect of the family Mantidæ; a mantis (cf. quot. 1855).
1855. Dallas, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., II. 359. Another prevalent superstition regarding these creatures is, that if they be asked the way to a place they will immediately indicate the right road by holding one of their legs in that direction,—hence the name of Soothsayers, often applied to these insects.
c. 1884. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 13. The Mantidæ, Praying Insects, or Soothsayers.
Hence Soothsayeress, a female soothsayer. Soothsayership, prediction, soothsaying, or skill in this.
1648. Hexham, II. Een Waerseggeresse, ofte waerseghster, a Shee-divine, or a Soothsayeresse.
1828. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. III. (1863), 118. He had the good fortune to foretell … the downfal of Napoleon Buonaparte—a piece of soothsayership which has established his reputation.
1875. Stevenson, in Colvin Lett. (1901), II. 92. ‘Yes, my dear,’ replied the soothsayeress.
