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agüero

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word agüero

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
950–1000 Glosas Silenses More words from the 10th century
Inherited from
Latin augurium via Old Spanish
Ultimate origin
Latin augur
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin augur
English augur
Latin augurium
Spanish agüero
English augury
Italian augurio
From the same root
Latin augurālis ← augur
Latin augurātus ← augur
Latin augurō ← augur

Pronunciation

  • /aˈɡweɾo/, [aˈɣ̞we.ɾo][1]

Forms

agüero m (plural agüeros)[1] Manuscripts of the Fuero Juzgo have agorio, agoro, agoyro, agüeyro and agüiro; the Cid has auuero and Juan Manuel abuero.[2][3] Agüeiro and auero are modern Asturian and Leonese forms.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish aguero, inherited from Latin augurium (“augury”).[4][5][6][1] The Latin noun is formed from augur (“augur”).[4][7] The Romance forms point to a variant Vulgar Latin *agurium, already Imperial Latin according to the DHLF.[8][9][10] The TDHLE takes the variant spellings of the Fuero Juzgo manuscripts (see Forms) as stages in the sound development from the Latin word to the modern one.[2]

The same word is Portuguese agouro, Galician agoiro, Catalan ahuir, Old Occitan aür and French heur, whose sense became “luck”.[8][11][9] Wiktionary reports De Vaan's derivation of the Latin word for augur from Proto-Italic *augos and Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwgos (“strength”), related to augeō (“to increase”), and notes that its declension is hard to explain on this view.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Silenses, of the second half of the 10th century, gloss Latin auguria in a canon against Christians who observe omens as agüeros.[2][4] The Cantar de mio Cid has the form auueros.[3][2] In Alfonso X's Lapidario a man who wants to catar aguero daues “take omens from birds” is helped by a stone that makes the birds gather around him.[13]

Semantic evolution

From the first records the word meant both the practice of reading the future in the flight and song of birds and a single sign, good or bad.[13][2] Berceo warns that taking omens is forbidden by God, and Alfonso X's General estoria has mal aguero for an ill omen.[14][13] Nebrija's Latin dictionary of 1492 explains augur as one who divines por aguero.[15] The Academy's dictionary of 1843 gives three senses: a sign of a future thing, a forecast based on such signs, and the divination of the ancients from birds.[16]

In Mexico agüero is recorded from 1575, for the omens of the Mexica.[17] In Argentina an adjective agüero “believing in omens” was in use about 1910.[18] The phrase pájaro de mal agüero “bird of ill omen” is current.[6][1] Beside the inherited word, Spanish has the learned augurio (about 1500), augurar and inaugurar, taken from Latin.[5][4]

Timeline

  • 950–1000 – the Glosas Silenses gloss auguria as agüeros.[2][4]
  • c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has auueros.[3]
  • 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has catar aguero “take omens”.[13]
  • c. 1500 – the learned doublet augurio is first recorded.[5]
  • 1575 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.[17]
  • 1843 – the Academy's dictionary defines the three senses still current.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. augury, divination by signs such as the song or flight of birds or the weather, as practised in antiquity.[6][1]
  2. An omen, a sign of something to come.[6][1]
  3. A forecast, good or bad, drawn superstitiously from signs without grounds: Lo tomaron como un buen agüero.[6][19]

Word family

  • agorero
  • agorar
  • augur
  • augural
  • augurar
  • augurio
  • inaugurar
  • Latin augurium
  • Portuguese agouro
  • French heur

Usage notes

It is usually qualified: de buen agüero, de mal agüero;[6][19] pájaro de mal agüero is a person who brings bad news.[6][19] Other words are spelt the same: in Honduras agüero is a metal pot for boiling water, in the Canaries a man who shares out irrigation water, and in Cantabria a lamb born in August, from Basque agorr (“August”).[20][21][22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. agüero
  3. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. agüero 1
  4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 83
  5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. agüero
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. agüero
  7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. augurium
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 785
  9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. heur
  10. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 140
  11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 796
  12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. augur
  13. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. agüero
  14. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. agüero
  15. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. agüero
  16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 21
  17. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. agüero
  18. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 13
  19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. agüero
  20. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. agüero
  21. ^ Academia Canaria de la Lengua (2010), Diccionario básico de canarismos, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; online at https://www.academiacanarialengua.org, p. s.v. agüero
  22. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 277

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Agüero.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/ag%C3%BCero. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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