Etymologically
Log in

horoscopus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:46. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

hōroscopus m (genitive hōroscopī), also hōroscopos; second declension[1] As an adjective, hōroscopus, -a, -um.[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ὡροσκόπος (hōroskópos),[1][3][2] which in Greek meant a nativity or horoscope and also one who observes the hour of a birth.[4] Etymonline explains it as a compound of the Greek words for “hour” and “watcher”, the notion being of observing the hour.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Manilius, for the cardinal point of the eastern horizon where the stars rise: “hinc inter Graias horoscopus editur urbes”, “hence among Greek cities it is called horoscopus”.[1]

Semantic evolution

Manilius also uses it for the sign rising at a birth, which decides a person's fortune,[1] and Persius addresses it: “geminos, horoscope, varo producis genio”, “horoscope, you bring forth twins of different temperament”.[1] Augustine discusses it in the City of God.[3] As an adjective it means showing the hour, of the vessels in Pliny the Elder and in Martianus Capella.[1][3][2] It keeps Greek endings, -os and -on, beside the Latin ones.[1][5]

In medieval Latin it named an astronomer who observes the stars with an instrument, one who keeps the hours and wakes others, and the cock as the bird that watches the night;[6] Bede uses it for the zodiac.[6] Niermeyer adds a clock.[7] English had it as horoscopum in late Old English, and took the modern horoscope from French in the mid-16th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 1st century AD – Manilius uses it for the eastern horizon and for the sign that rules a birth.[1][8]
  • 34–62 AD – Persius addresses the horoscope that brings forth twins of unlike temperament.[1][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the adjective of vessels that show the hour.[1][8]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine discusses it in the City of God.[3][8]
  • 1st third of the 8th century – Bede uses it for the zodiac.[6][8]
  • 890–897 – Abbo uses it of a cleric who keeps the hours.[6][8]
  • mid-16th century – English borrows horoscope from French.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (astrology) The eastern horizon, the point where the stars rise.[1]
  2. The sign rising at a birth, which decides a person's fortune; a nativity, horoscope.[1][3][2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An astronomer; one who keeps the hours and wakes others.[6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The zodiac.[6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A clock.[7]

Adjective

  1. Showing the hour.[1][3][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de