vaticinor

Forms

vāticinor (present infinitive vāticinārī, perfect active vāticinātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin vātēs (“seer, prophet”) + -cinor.^[2][3] Wiktionary takes the second part from canō (“to sing; to foretell”), with the vowel weakened to /i/ in the non-initial syllable.^[1]

vātēs goes back to Proto-Italic *wāt-(ē)i- and Proto-Indo-European *(H)ueh₂t-i- (“seer”).^[3] De Vaan lists as its cognates Old Irish fáith (“soothsayer, prophet”), Old Norse óðr (“raging”) and Old English wōd (“raging”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds the verb from Plautus on.^[3] In the Pseudolus it is used in jest: vetera vaticinamini, “you are prophesying old news”, said of people who repeat what everyone knows.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its proper sense was to utter predictions or warnings under divine inspiration, and with an object or an accusative and infinitive to foretell a particular event.^[2] Varro explained that those who foretold the future were said to vaticinari because they did it with a frenzied mind.^[2] The verb accordingly also meant, in a bad sense, to talk wildly or rave, as in Cicero.^[2][4] Wiktionary adds a figurative sense, to sing or celebrate as a poet.^[1]

It stayed in use through Late Latin, with most of its later records in the 4th and 5th centuries.^[5][6] English took vaticinate from it in the 17th century.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it jokingly in the Pseudolus.^[4][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro explains the word by the frenzy of those who prophesy.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it both of inspired prophecy and of raving talk.^[2][8]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus has a priestess who prophesies with a divine voice.^[2][8]
• 1620s – English vaticinate is formed from vaticination or from the Latin participle vāticinātus.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To prophesy, to utter divinely inspired predictions or warnings.^[2][4]
2. To foretell or predict a particular event by inspiration.^[2]
3. (in a bad sense) To talk wildly, to rave.^[2][4]
4. (figurative) To sing or celebrate, as a poet does.^[1]

Word family

• vāticinātiō
• vāticinātor
• vāticinātrix
• vāticinium
• vāticinius

Related words

• vātēs
• vāticinus
• English vaticinate

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from hariolor: both mean to foretell, but vaticinari carries the notion of inspiration and hariolari that of charlatanism.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper