ostentum Latin · revision 33749

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *ten-d(h)-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ostentum''' ''n'' (genitive ostentī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the past participle of [[m|la|ostendō|t=to show]], used as a noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) [[m|la|ostendō]] is a compound of [[m|la|tendō|t=to stretch]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*tend-]] and [[ine-pro|*ten-d(h)-|t=to stretch]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who lists it in the ''De inventione'' with lots, oracles, seers, prodigies and responses.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is an event that foreshadows the future, a portent or prodigy.^(OLD 2012) In the ''De divinatione'' Cicero puts it among the signs found in entrails, birds, lightning, portents, stars, dreams and the words of the frenzied.^(TLL) In a wider sense it is a wonder or marvel: Caelius writes to Cicero that Appius as censor is working wonders, and Seneca speaks of trumpets, beams and other marvels of the sky.^(OLD 2012) Tacitus calls the deformed and scurrilous Vatinius one of the foulest monstrosities of that court.^(OLD 2012) The jurist Labeo, quoted by Ulpian, defines it as anything born or made against the nature of its kind.^(OLD 2012) An ancient distinction quoted in the TLL says that a ''portentum'' is born and keeps its nature, while an ''ostentum'' is suddenly shown to the eyes and withdrawn.^(TLL) Church Latin has “prodigy” and the unusual form of a foetus.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of portents among the signs of the future.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of marvels in the sky.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of a monstrous courtier.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|portent]], [[m|en|prodigy]], a sign of the future.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A wonder, marvel, [[m|en|monstrosity]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(law)'' Anything born or made against the nature of its kind.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' An unusual form of a foetus.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ostentarius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ostendō]]

+ * [[portentum]]

+ * [[prōdigium]]

+ * [[mōnstrum]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein groups ''ostenta'' with ''prōdigia'', ''portenta'' and ''mōnstra'': all are appearances outside the ordinary course of nature that strike ordinary people and are interpreted by the soothsayer, while ''auguria'' and ''auspicia'' are signs in the ordinary course of nature that only the augurs and magistrates read.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}