augurio

Forms

augurio m (plural auguri)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian agurio, Old Italian auguro and Old Italian aurio.^[2][3] The popular form Old Italian aguro is recorded from the 14th century.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin augurium (“augury; omen”), a learned word, from augur (“augur”).^{[5][6][7][1][8]} Isidore of Seville explained the Latin word as if from “what the birds bring”, a folk etymology the GDLI quotes.^[3]

A spoken variant Vulgar Latin agurium survives in the Romance languages: French heur, Old Occitan agur, Spanish agüero, Portuguese agouro and Romansh agur.^[4][9] It was also borrowed as Basque agur, a Basque word of greeting.^[5][9] In Italian the LEI distinguishes the popular Old Italian aguro, the half-learned Old Italian agurio and Old Italian auguro, and the learned form, the modern word.^[4] Wiktionary takes the first of those half-learned forms as the inherited word.^[1] The same variant probably lies behind sciagurato, through Old Occitan desaugurat, and behind sciagura.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in Bono Giamboni's Florentine translation of Orosius, before 1292, for a prediction drawn from the flight or song of birds.^[10] DELI dates the sense “wish, hope” to Jacopone, before 1306.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the word meant the augurs' prediction and their art, a charm or superstitious practice, any sign of the future, good or bad, and a wish for what is to come.^[10] Petrarch writes: Or tristi auguri, e sogni, e penser negri / mi danno assalto (“Now sad omens, and dreams, and black thoughts assail me”).^[3] Francesco da Buti, before 1406, uses it for the augurs' answer.^[11]

In the south, the old popular form survives with a magical sense: Tarantino aùru and Calabrian agureddu mean a sprite or goblin, and the LEI also records the sense “nightmare”.^[5][4] The plural auguri as a formula of courtesy for holidays and birthdays is recorded from 1679, in Paolo Segneri.^[11] A person who foretells disaster is an uccello del malaugurio, a “bird of ill omen”.^[13][1]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Bono Giamboni uses augurio in his translation of Orosius.^[10]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone uses it for a wish or hope.^[11]
• Before 1406 – Francesco da Buti uses it for the augurs' answer.^[11]
• 1679 – Paolo Segneri uses the plural for greetings.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wish that something good happens to someone: Accetta il mio augurio per il nuovo lavoro.^[6][7][2]
2. In the plural, greetings: the formula used on holidays, birthdays and other occasions: Tanti auguri!^[6][7][14]
3. In the plural, a greetings card: Non ho ancora spedito gli auguri a mia zia.^[6][7]
4. An omen, presage: essere di buon augurio, to be a good sign.^[6][15][13]
5. (literary) A presentiment.^[6][7][2]
6. (historical) The rite by which the Roman augurs drew omens; the omen itself.^[6][2][13]

Word family

• malaugurio
• auguroso

Related words

• augurale
• augurare
• augure
• sciagura
• Latin augurium

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 1, 843
4. ^ a b c d Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 2302
5. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 362
6. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
11. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
15. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse