Definitions of Prophecy extracted from Wiki

Rabbinic scholar Maimonides, suggested that "prophecy is, in truth and reality, an emanation sent forth by Divine Being through the medium of the Active Intellect, in the first instance to man's rational faculty, and then to his imaginative faculty."^[4] This closely relates to the definition by Al-Fârâbî who developed the theory of prophecy in Islam.^[5] The Catholic Encyclopedia defines prophecy as "understood in its strict sense, it means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may sometimes apply to past events of which there is no memory, and to present hidden things which cannot be known by the natural light of reason."^[6] From a skeptical point of view, there is a Latin maxim: prophecy written after the factvaticinium ex eventu ^[7].

Etymology

The English word "prophecy" (noun) in the sense of "function of a prophet" appeared in Europe from about 1225, from Old French profecie (12th century), and from Late Latin prophetia,Greek prophetia "gift of interpreting the will of the gods", from Greek prophetes (see prophet). The related meaning "thing spoken or written by a prophet" is from circa 1300, while the verb "to prophesy" is recorded by 1377.^[8]

One of the earliest recorded uses of the term "prophecy" is nevuah, and comes from Hebrew divrei nevuah "words of prophecy", and forms the name of a major subdivision of the Tanakh, the Nevi'im [נביאים], and means "a prediction", from the root "Nuv" meaning to bear fruit, or make flourish.^[9] This may relate to the nature of prophecy from the Jewish perspective where, in Rabbinic traditions, Ezra is metaphorically referred to as the "flowers that appear on the earth" signifying the springtime in the national history of Judaism.