augur

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈau̯.ɡʊr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaːu̯.ɡur]^[1]

Forms

augur m or f (genitive auguris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

De Vaan derives it from an s-stem noun Proto-Italic *augos (“reinforcement, confirmation”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwgos (“strength”), the noun of augēre “to increase”, with r taken from the oblique cases.^[2][1] The abstract noun would then have become concrete, “one who makes grow”, and Etymonline glosses the original idea as an increase in crops brought about by ritual.^[2][3] Priscian's older form auger may keep the ablaut of the oblique cases, and the old plural survives in Accius' augura “auguries”.^[2] De Vaan dismisses the analysis as *au-gus- “bird-taster”, from avis “bird” and gustāre “to taste”, as unmotivated, though this popular view is given by Lewis and Short and Etymonline.^[2][4][3] The OLD calls the origin doubtful.^[5]

Cognate with Sanskrit ओजस् (ójas, “strength”) and Avestan aogah- (“might”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from Cato onwards,^[2][6] who forbids a farm manager to consult a soothsayer, an augur, a diviner or an astrologer.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a person who observes and interprets the behaviour of birds, and especially a member of the Roman college of augurs, the official interpreters of the auspices, whom Cicero calls “interpreters of Jupiter Best and Greatest”.^[5][4] Lewis and Short note that the augurs read lightning, the flight and calls of birds, the feeding of the sacred chickens and other signs.^[4] Towns and colonies also had their own augurs.^[7]

In poetry it meant any seer or prophet, as augur Apollo in Virgil and Horace, and by extension anything that foretells, as when Statius calls fear the worst of augurs.^[5][8] Medieval writers used it for a soothsayer whom bishops were to restrain.^[9] English borrowed it in the 1540s.^[3]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for a soothsayer.^[5][6]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius writes “I put no trust in augurs”.^[5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero calls the augurs interpreters of Jupiter.^[4][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Apollo augur.^[5][6]
• 1540s – English borrows it as English augur.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An augur, an interpreter of the behaviour of birds; a member of the college of augurs.^[5][4]
2. A seer, prophet; anything that foretells.^[5][8]

Word family

• augurale
• augurālis
• augurius
• augurium
• augurō

Related words

• augeō
• augustus
• English augur
• English inaugurate

Usage notes

It is usually masculine, but poets use it as a feminine.^[5][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn