Etymologically
Log in

obnuntio

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word obnuntio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
2nd century BC, Pacuvius and Terence
Ultimate origin
Latin (nūntius)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nuntio
Latin enuntio
Latin denuntio
Latin denuntiatio
Latin pronuntio
French prononcer
Latin pronuntiatio
Latin obnuntio

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔbˈnuːn.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [obˈnun.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

obnūntiō (present infinitive obnūntiāre, perfect active obnūntiāvī, supine obnūntiātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ob- + nūntiō (“to announce”).[2][1][3] nūntiō is formed from nūntius (“messenger”),[1][4] whose further origin de Vaan finds unclear: it has been derived from a root Proto-Indo-European *neuH- (“to cry”), not found in Latin; others connect it with novus (“new”), which he finds hard to accept morphologically.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Terence on,[4] meaning to report bad news: in the Adelphoe a speaker says he is the first to learn of all their troubles and the first to report them (primus porro obnuntio).[2][5] Pacuvius has it in the same sense.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it is a technical term of augury and public life: an augur or magistrate announced an unfavourable omen in order to stop an assembly or another magistrate's action, the person obstructed in the dative (obnuntiavit consuli).[2][6][7] Cicero writes of a law that the auspices should have no force and no one should obnuntiare, and in a letter that the assembly would have met nisi Milo in campo obnuntiasset.[2] Suetonius tells of a colleague who announced omens being driven from the forum by arms.[2] Georges also cites it, with the subjunctive, in the late Itinerarium Alexandri.[7]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of announcing bad news.[2][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of reporting bad news.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of announcing unfavourable omens to block public business.[2][8]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a magistrate announcing omens.[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To announce or report (bad news).[2][6][5]
  2. (religion) To announce unfavourable omens;[2][6][7] (intransitive) to announce such omens so as to block the action of a magistrate or an assembly.[2][6][7]

Word family

  • obnūntiātiō

Usage notes

The grammarian Donatus, commenting on Terence, says that the word is properly used of augurs who have seen an evil omen.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Obnuntio.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/obnuntio. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·