Alchemist Vocabulary Set #1

This is a list of tier 3 vocabulary words that will appear in The Alchemist.

Divination

Noun: the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.

Bedouins

Noun: nomadic Arab
peoples who lived in
bands in the Arabian
Peninsula's desert

Conquistador

Noun: 15th-16th century
Portuguese and Spanish
soldiers, so named
because they
conquered their enemies

Simun

Noun: a wind-born sandstorm

Moorish

Adjective: relating to the Moors, the Arab/Berber Muslim people who arrived from Northern Africa and conquered Spain in the 8th Century

Sirocco

Noun: a wind that blows from the oceans over the land, bearing moisture

Seminary

Noun: school, especially one in which students study to become priests

Scarab

Noun: a beetle used in Egyptian art as a symbol of the after-life or of God; seen as lucky charms or omens among Egyptians

Scimitar

Noun: very sharp knives with curved blades

Coptic

Noun: an Egyptian form of Christianity

Disinter

unbury, reveal

Impetus

Encouragement, goad

Crook

The curved stick used by a shepherd

Infidels

Unfaithful ones or nonbelievers

Levanter

A wind that comes from the Eastern end of the Mediterranean, near Turkey, which is sometimes called the Levant

Sacristy

A room in a church used to store sacred vessels for communion

Scabbard

The metal case used to hold a sword

Alchemy

A medieval philosophy and science with the goal of changing common metals into gold, finding a universal cure for illness, and discovering methods of halting the ageing process to prolong life

Capricious

Given to whimsical decisions, unpredictable

Prognostications

Predictions, statements telling of the future