Ventriloquism
/ˌvɛn.trɪˈlɒ.kwɪ.zəm/noun
The art or practice of speaking so that the voice seems to come from somewhere else, especially from a dummy or puppet.
Did you know?The word comes from a classical idea that ventriloquists spoke from the belly, and in antiquity that eerie effect was sometimes linked to prophecy and spirit-speaking.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Gk
ἐνγαστρίμυθος (engastrímythos)
“a belly-speaker, especially a person believed to speak by a spirit or oracle”
Late Greek
Gk
ἐντερίλογος (enterílोगos)
“a belly-speaker; a person who seems to speak from the stomach”
Late Latin
Latin
ventriloquus
“one who speaks from the belly”
16th Century
English
ventriloquie
“the practice of speaking in an altered way so the voice seems to come from elsewhere”
Modern English
English
ventriloquism
“the performance art of producing a voice that seems to originate from another source”