Etymologically
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auguro

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈau̯.ɡʊ.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaːu̯.ɡu.ro][1]

Forms

augurō (present infinitive augurāre, perfect active augurāvī, supine augurātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin augur (“augur, seer”) + -ō.[2][1] De Vaan derives augur from Old Latin *augos “reinforcement, confirmation”, an s-stem of the root of augeō “to increase”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eug- (“to grow”); he finds the analysis as “bird-taster” wholly unmotivated.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius has “this I tell you and foretell by conjecture”.[2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to foretell by augury, as Cicero's law says that priests shall take the auguries for the people's safety, and to inaugurate or consecrate something by taking the auguries.[2][6] From this it meant to prophesy or predict from omens or other signs, and to surmise or conjecture.[2] It is also deponent, auguror.[2][1]

Its compound inaugurō gave English inaugurate about 1600, and English augur as a verb also dates from about 1600.[4] It was borrowed into French augurer and Italian augurare.[1]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of foretelling.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of taking auguries for the people's safety.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil says “if my mind foretells anything true”.[2][5]
  • c. 1600 – English inaugurate and augur are recorded.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To foretell by augury.[2]
  2. To consecrate by taking auguries, inaugurate.[2]
  3. To prophesy, predict.[2]
  4. To surmise, conjecture.[2][1]

Word family

  • augurāculum
  • augurātiō
  • augurātō
  • augurātōrium
  • augurātrīx
  • augurātus
  • exaugurō
  • inaugurō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.