stonelore

English

Etymology

stone +‎ lore

Noun

stonelore (uncountable)

1. (especially fantasy) Knowledge or study of stone(s).
   • 1875, Henry Thomas Armfield, On some Ancient Boulders scattered in the District of the Colnes, page 8:

     The whole difficulty disappears when the comparative study of large stones begins, and we are told that such stones were inscribed with a hand; and when we find scientific stone-lore coming to the help of Hebrew Lexicography, we may be  […]

   • 1987, Stephen R. Donaldson, White Gold Wielder, Del Rey Books, →ISBN:

     It was a type of rock which the Land's former masters of stonelore had named orcrest. It was half the size of his fist, irregularly shaped but smooth; and its surface gave a strange impression of translucence without transparency,  […]

   • 2007, Harry Turtledove, Darkness Descending: A Novel of World War - And Magic, Macmillan, →ISBN:

     “Even you don't know what that means,” Sidroc said. “It means my brain is turning into a rock, like yours was to start with,” Ealstan said. “If the Algarvians had let you take stonelore, you would have found out for yourself.”

   • 2013, Stephen R. Donaldson, The Last Dark, Penguin, →ISBN, page 171:

     But before he could pry the rock out of the slope, he felt Stave coming toward him. “Permit me,” the former Master offered. “There is little else that I can do to aid you. I lack the stonelore of Giants. Nor, it appears, do my senses equal yours. Yet strength I have.”

   • 2015, N. K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season, Orbit, →ISBN:

     “They kill us because they've got stonelore telling them at every turn that we're born evil—some kind of agents of Father Earth, monsters that barely qualify as human.” “Yes, but you can't change stonelore.” “Stonelore changes all the time, […] ”

Anagrams

• Orlestone