inauguration

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin inaugurātiō (“consecration, installation under good omens”),^[2][3][4][5] partly also borrowed from Middle French inauguration, recorded in French from the 14th century.^[3][2][6] The Latin noun is formed from inaugurātus, the past participle of inaugurō (“to take omens from the flight of birds; to consecrate or install after taking omens”),^[2][3][7] from in- (“in, on”) and augurō (“to take auguries”),^[2][3] from augur, a Roman priest who foretold the future from the behaviour of birds, the source of augur.^[8][3] Ayto takes augur as originally "one who performs with birds", from avis (“bird”) and gerō (“to do, perform”),^[8] while Etymonline reports de Vaan's view that it first meant a ritual increase of crops, related to augeō (“to increase”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Formal induction into an office or dignity; consecration, investiture: 1569, in instructions of the Earl of Moray to an ambassador.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1560s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In ancient Rome the inauguratio was the ceremony by which the augurs sought the sanction of the gods for a human decision, and consecrated people or things to them;^[3] by the time the word reached English, Ayto notes, the link with divination had been lost.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "investiture by solemn rites".^[9] The verb inaugurate, from about 1600, is partly a back-formation from the noun.^[3] From 1686 the noun was used attributively, much like inaugural.^[2] In the 19th century it widened to the formal beginning of an era or course of action (1856, in Froude)^[2] and to the ceremonial opening of a building or park or the unveiling of a statue (1861).^[2] In the United States it is used especially of the ceremony that installs a president.^[6]

Timeline

• 1569 – formal induction into an office.^[2][5]
• 1686 – attributive use, as in an inauguration speech.^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: investiture by solemn rites.^[9]
• 1856 – the formal beginning of an era or course of action.^[2]
• 1861 – the ceremonial opening of a building or monument.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A formal ceremony that installs someone in an office, in the United States especially the president: Crowds gathered for the governor's inauguration.^[5][6][2]
2. The formal opening of a building or institution, or the introduction of something into public use.^[5][2]
3. The formal beginning of a period, policy or course of action.^[5][2]

Word family

• reinauguration

Related words

• inaugurate
• inaugural
• augur
• augury
• auspice

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.