auspices
Etymology
It is the plural, now the usual form, of auspice,[1][2] which is borrowed from French auspice, a French word of the 14th century,[3][1][4] from Latin auspicium (“divination from the flight of birds”).[3][1][2] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford allow a borrowing either from French or directly from Latin.[5][6] Barnhart names Middle and Old French auspice as the source, itself a learned borrowing from the Latin.[2] The Latin noun is formed from auspex (“one who watches birds for omens, augur”), literally "bird-watcher", from avis (“bird”) and the stem of speciō (“to look at, observe”).[2][7][8][9] Etymonline traces auspex to Proto-Indo-European *awi-spek- (“observer of birds”), from the roots *awi- (“bird”) and *spek- (“to observe”).[1] The same Latin words underlie aviary and spy,[2][4] and Ayto compares the parallel formation of augur.[10] Weekley compares haruspex, a diviner who inspected entrails.[11]
Earliest recorded meaning
A sign or omen given by birds, or the observation of birds to obtain omens: 1533, in John Bellenden's translation of Livy's history of Rome.[3][2]
Semantic evolution
The word began with the Roman practice of reading the future from birds.[2][5] From 1660 the singular was used of any prophetic sign, especially of a happy future,[3] a sense Etymonline dates to the 1650s.[1] Earlier still, in Ben Jonson's Catiline (1611), it meant the favourable influence or patronage of a greater power,[3][2] and this sense lived on mainly in the phrase under the auspices of.[1][3] Johnson (1755) gave both the bird omens and "protection; favour shewn by prosperous men", quoting Jonson.[12] Barnhart notes that the plural became the main form in the 1800s,[2] and the Oxford Dictionary of English now labels the singular archaic.[5]
Timeline
- 1533 – the observation of birds for omens; a sign given by birds.[3][2]
- 1611 – favouring influence, patronage, especially under the auspices of, in Ben Jonson.[3][2] Etymonline dates the extended sense to the 1630s.[1]
- 1660 – any prophetic sign, especially of a happy future.[3]
- 1688 – a lucky beginning, in Dryden (now obsolete).[3]
- 1800s – the plural becomes the main form.[2]
Meanings
Noun
- Support, patronage or guidance, especially in under the auspices of: The festival was held under the auspices of the city council.[13][6][3]
- Signs or omens, especially favourable ones.[13][7]
- (historical) Observations of the flight and feeding of birds made to foretell the future, as in Roman augury.[7][3]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
- ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
- ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins