Mysteries of vernacular: Inaugurate - Jessica Oreck

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From avian omens to the beginning of a new policy or the reign of a new politician, Jessica Oreck follows the flight path of the word inaugurate.

Lesson and animation by Jessica Oreck.

Mysteries of vernacular

Inaugurate:

to begin or introduce a system, policy, or period

or to admit someone formally into public office.

The word inaugurate probably begins

with the Latin word avis,

meaning bird.

In ancient Rome, avis was combined

with the Latin verb garrire, to talk.

The two words together made augur,

literally one who talks to birds.

Figuratively, however, augur was the name given

to a specific religious official,

a type of soothsayer or prophet,

who foretold events by studying the behavior of birds.

No major decision was made

without the augur's consultation.

He would analyze flight patterns and direction,

bird calls,

and general bird activities,

and then use these signs to interpret the will of the gods.

From augur comes the verb inaugurare,

to see omens from the flight of birds,

and, then later, to consecrate or act

when such omens are favorable.

Roman officials could only be installed in office

when the avian omens were auspicious.

Centuries later,

the word was eventually transmuted into English

as inaugurate.

Along the way, it lost its veneer of superstition

and was admitted formally

into the jargon of politics.