Etymologically
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inauguro

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɪˈnau̯.ɡʊ.roː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iˈnaːu̯.ɡu.ro][1]

Forms

inaugurō (present infinitive inaugurāre, perfect active inaugurāvī, supine inaugurātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from in- and augurō “to take the auspices”.[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Varro, of taking the omens, as the augurs who set out from the citadel along the Sacred Way.[2][5][6] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.[7]

Semantic evolution

Intransitively it meant to take omens from the flight of birds, practise augury, as in Varro and Livy, also to learn by augury whether something should be done.[2][6] Transitively, from Cicero, it meant to consecrate by augury a priest, an official or a place.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to take omens, practise augury, divine.[8] It survives in Italian inaugurare and French inaugurer, and its participle gave English inaugurate about 1600, “to induct into office by a ceremony”.[1][4]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of taking omens.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of consecrating by augury.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of augury.[6][7]
  • c. 1600 – English inaugurate is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To take omens, practise augury.[2]
  2. To consecrate by augury, inaugurate.[2]

Word family

  • inauguratio

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson