Mysteries of vernacular: Inaugurate - Jessica Oreck

Transcriber: Andrea McDonough
Reviewer: Jessica Ruby

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.