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portentum

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word portentum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
220–130 BC, Pacuvius
Ultimate origin
Latin (tendō)

Forms

portentum n (genitive portentī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of the past participle of portendō (“to foretell, portend”), used as a noun.[2][3] ⟨portendō⟩ is from por- and tendō (“to stretch”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *ten-d(h)- (“to stretch”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Pacuvius;[5] the OLD's earliest example is from Accius, a prayer that the portents may turn out well for the people.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is an abnormal event taken to foreshadow something momentous, a portent, in Accius, Varro and Cicero's speech on the answer of the soothsayers.[2] Without reference to the future it is a prodigy, an unnatural event: Pliny the Elder reports a great portent near Mutina, where two mountains ran together.[2] Of people it is a monster of wickedness, as Cicero's “Gabinius and Piso, the two monsters of the state”.[2] It is also a monstrous invention or a fantastic tale: Cicero asks whether certain expressions are words or monstrosities, and joins the errors of the poets with the fantasies of the magi.[2]

Cicero lists it with mōnstrum, prōdigium and ostentum as near-synonyms, and glossaries render it with Ancient Greek τέρας (téras, “portent”).[6] Church Latin has it for portent, wonder, prodigy, omen.[7] English portent (1560s) came from it through French.[3]

Timeline

  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius.[5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of portents for the people.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of portents and of human monsters.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a prodigy near Mutina.[2][5]
  • 1560s – English portent.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An omen, portent, a sign foretelling some great event.[2][1][7]
  2. A prodigy, an unnatural or extraordinary thing; a monster.[2][1][7]
  3. (of a person) A monster of wickedness.[2]
  4. A monstrous invention or practice; a fantastic tale.[2]

Word family

  • portentificus
  • portentōsus
  • triportentum

Usage notes

Döderlein says that among the signs outside the ordinary course of nature the portentum is the one that arouses terror and threatens danger, while the prōdigium is full of meaning, the ostentum arouses wonder and the mōnstrum is unnatural and ugly.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Portentum.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/portentum. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·