LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · masculinethird declension

augur

augur m or f (genitive auguris)
Classical[ˈau̯.ɡʊr]Ecclesiastical[ˈaːu̯.ɡur]

Meaning

  1. femininemasculineaugur (priest, diviner, or soothsayer, one who foretold the future in part by interpreting the song and flight of birds)
    ad prīmam vōcem timidās advertitis aurēs,You turn timid ears to the first word spoken, and the augur interprets the first bird seen.8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 1.179–180

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

vātēs, quī signa deōrum intellegit
augur -uris (m) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 8
avibus futūra legēns
augur -uris (m) — in Aeneis, ch. 20

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativeauguraugurēs
genitiveaugurisaugurum
dativeaugurīauguribus
accusativeauguremaugurēs
ablativeaugureauguribus
vocativeauguraugurēs

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

augures obnuntiant (consuli) (Phil. 2. 33. 83)
the augurs announce an unfavourable sign.

augur, ŭris (earlier also auger, Prisc. p. 554 P.), comm. (cf. Prob. p. 1455 P., and Phoc. p. 1695 P.) [avis and Sanscr. gar, to call, to show, make known. Van.],
I. an auqur, diviner, soothsayer; at Rome, a member of a particular college of priests, much reverenced in earlier ages, who made known the future by observing the lightning, the flight or notes of birds, the feeding of the sacred fowls, certain appearances of quadrupeds, and any unusual occurrences (v dirae).
I. Lit.: Interpretes Jovis optumi maxumi, publici augures, Cic. Leg. 2, 8, 20; Fest. s. v. quinque, p. 26 Müll.; Serv. ad Verg. A. 3, 537; and others cited in Müll. Etrusk. 2, p. 116 sq., and Smith, Dict. Antiq. (diff. from auspex, orig. as a general idea from a particular one, since the auspex observed only the flight of birds; cf. Non. p. 429, 26. Yet as this latter kind of augury was the most common, the two words are frequently interchanged or employed in connection; cf. Enn. ap. Cic. Div 1, 48, 107: dant operam simul auspicio augurioque).—
II. Transf., any soothsayer, diviner, seer, in gen.: augur Apollo, as god of prophecy (v. Apollo), Hor. C. 1, 2, 32; so, augur Phoebus, id. C. S. 61: Argivus, i.e. Amphiaraus, id. C. 3, 16, 11; id. Ep. 1, 20, 9; Prop. 3, 14, 3: veri providus augur Thestorides, i. e. Calchas, Ov. M. 12, 18; 12, 307; 15, 596; 3, 349; 3, 512 al.: nocturnae imaginis augur, interpreter of night-visions, id. Am. 3, 5, 31: pessimus in dubiis augur timor, fear, the basest prophet, Stat. Th. 3, 6.—Fem.: aquae nisi fallit augur Annosa cornix, Hor. C. 3, 17, 12: simque augur cassa futuri! Stat. Th. 9, 629; Vulg. Deut. 18, 14; ib. Isa. 2, 6; ib. Jer. 27, 9: augures caeli, ib. Isa. 47, 13.

Origins

According to De Vaan, Proto-Italic *augos ~ *augezos n, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwgos; compare Sanskrit ओजस् (ojas, “strength, vigor”), Avestan 𐬀𐬊𐬘𐬀𐬵 (aojah), 𐬀𐬊𐬔𐬀𐬵 (aogah, “might, power”) as well as Latin augeō (“to increase”), augustus (< *augos-tos). The noun *augos would have developed from "reinforcement" to "(one) who makes grow". However, it is not clear why the term is not inflected like other neuter s-stems. The expected declension pattern, if the aforementioned theory is accepted, would be *augus ~ *augeris. The term might have leveled the e/o-variation in the suffix, yielding *augos ~ *augoris. There is attestation of a similar development in fulgur ~ fulguris, though there is attestation for the unassimilated stem fulgor-, whereas there is no evidence for augor-. It is also unclear how a neuter verbal abstract become a masculine noun denoting the role of a religious official. There are few other parallels for original neuter s-stems coming to refer to animate entities, and all of them are either doubtful or have special explanations. For instance, Venus f reflects Proto-Indo-European *wénh₁-os ~ *wénh₁-es-os, though it specifically refers to a goddess who functioned as the personification of love, and its case is therefore not an exact match for the situation of augus.

Descendants
  • Catalanàugur
  • Englishaugur
  • Frenchaugure
  • Italianaugure
  • Portugueseáugure
  • Romanianaugur
  • Spanishaugur
  • Picardaüre
  • Irishágarfrom English augur
  • Koine Greekαὔγουρ

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesAugurAugur AUGURIUM; AUSPEX, AUSPICIUM. Augur or auspex meant a diviner by birds, but came in course of time, like the Greek οἰωνός, to be applied in a mor…

Quick answers

What does augur mean in Latin?
augur, a noun, means “augur (priest, diviner, or soothsayer, one who foretold the future in part by interpreting the song and flight of birds)”.
What is the genitive of augur?
The genitive singular is auguris. augur is masculine, third declension.
How do you pronounce augur?
In classical Latin, [ˈau̯.ɡʊr]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈaːu̯.ɡur].