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.