This book uses the phrase "facies hermeticae" a few times and I've yet to figure out what it means in the given context. The top google results are quotations from the book, can anyone explain what Eco means by this?

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10 years ago
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Douglas Roberts I'm pretty sure it's a joke at the expense of the hermetic characters the publishers spend much of their time with, as when it's first used it's about how they literally all have a certain look about them (Lorenza says "professional sorcerers with faces exactly like professional sorcerers", then describes them. Diotallevi quips "Facies hermetica", and from then on it's an in-joke).

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Dan'l Wikipedia says: "In medical contexts, a facies is a distinctive facial expression or appearance associated with specific medical conditions. It comes from the Latin word for 'face'." "Hermeticae" means relating to Hermetic or occult philosophy. The characters are joking among themselves that occult types are afflicted with a particular facial expression. It is not complimentary.

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Jeffrey Engel Probably just another way to say "secret" or "hidden" knowledge. ie. "The study of hermetics". Facies are "characteristics" or the "face of things". So figuratively we're probably talking about the "study of...". And hermetics of course is discussed much in the book, it's the secret knowledge that people think relates to mystical or religious things. Although some people elevate it to simply "secret" things in general. So, the face of hidden things, or the characteristics of secret knowledge. ie. "the study of secret and missing knowledge", etc.

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greatgrayprairie I thought it meant “species of hermeticsm”

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Claudio I think it simply means «closed-face» (facies=face + hermeticae= closed) or expressionless. In the Portuguese we have this saying «cara fechada» that means "without expression or emotion".

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