A person who claims to predict the future or tell the truth about hidden things, like a fortune teller or prophet.
From Old English 'soth' (truth) + 'sayer' (one who says). Originally meant someone who 'says the truth,' but the meaning shifted to describe people claiming supernatural knowledge of future events.
Soothsayers were taken seriously enough that kings and emperors consulted them before major decisions—the Roman Senate even asked a soothsayer named Spurinna to warn Julius Caesar about the Ides of March, showing how much people relied on these predictions despite their dubious accuracy.
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