Etymograph

English

inaugurate

Inaugurate comes from French inaugurer ‘to inaugurate’, from Latin inaugurō ‘to take omens from the flight of birds, to…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwgos ‘to increase, to enlarge’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éwgos‘to increase, to enlarge’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*augos ~ *augezosreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaugur
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaugurō‘prophesy, interpret omens’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinaugurō‘to take omens from the flight of birds, to divine, practise augury’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentinaugurer‘to inaugurate’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1600inaugurate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éwgos‘to increase, to enlarge’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*augos ~ *augezosreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaugur
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaugurō‘prophesy, interpret omens’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinaugurō‘to take omens from the flight of birds, to divine, practise augury’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentinaugurer‘to inaugurate’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1600inaugurate

Earliest quotation: 1600, Titus Livius [i.e., [Book XXVII]: “[…] Cn[aeus] Cornelius Dolabella vvas inaugurat or inſtalled king…”

The story

Further from in- (‘against; into; on, upon; to, towards’) + augurō (‘to act as an augur, interpret omens, augur; to foretell, predict; to conjecture, guess’), from augur (‘soothsayer, augur’) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix) (further etymology uncertain; see the entry).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwgos ‘to increase, to enlarge’

august, 6 more

through Latin augur

augur, 6 more

Today it means

verb To induct (someone) into a dignity or office with a formal ceremony.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwgos / inaugurate

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