It often happens in mathematics that the answer to a problem is "known" long before anybody knows how to prove it. (Some examples of contemporary interest are among the Millennium Prize problems: E.g. Yang-Mills existence is widely believed to be true based on ideas from physics, and the Riemann hypothesis is widely believed to be true because it would be an awful shame if it wasn't. Another good example is Schramm–Loewner evolution, where again the answer was anticipated by ideas from physics.)
More rare are the instances where an abstract mathematical "idea" floats around for many years before even a rigorous definition or interpretation can be developed to describe the idea. An example of this is umbral calculus, where a mysterious technique for proving properties of certain sequences existed for over a century before anybody understood why the technique worked, in a rigorous way.
I find these instances of mathematical ideas without rigorous interpretation fascinating, because they seem to often lead to the development of radically new branches of mathematics$^1$. What are further examples of this type?
I am mainly interested in historical examples, but contemporary ones (i.e. ideas which have yet to be rigorously formulated) are also welcome.
- Footnote: I have some specific examples in mind that I will share as an answer, if nobody else does.
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