the.com/ventriloquist
A person paid to argue with their own hand in public.
means A performer who speaks without visibly moving their lips, making the voice seem to come from a puppet or elsewhere.
from From Latin venter (belly) plus loqui (to speak) — literally belly-speaker, because ancients believed the voice came from the stomach, channeling spirits, not stagecraft.
Dummy dictionB, F, M, P, V are swapped or disguised.
Holy originsOnce considered prophecy, the belly-voice deemed divine.
Trade termThe puppet is professionally called a figure.