Etymologically
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augurio

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Pronunciation

  • /awˈɡu.rjo/[1]

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
  • 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