haruspex

See also: Haruspex

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin haruspex.

Noun

haruspex (plural haruspices)

  1. A soothsayer or priest in Ancient Rome (originally Etruscan) who practiced haruspicy, divination by inspecting entrails.
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes [], book II, London: [] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount [], →OCLC:
      If it be lawfull for Panæcius to maintaine his judgement about Aruspices, Dreames, Oracles and Prophecies []: Wherfore shall not a wise-man dare that in all things, which this man dareth in such as he hath learned of his Masters?
    • 2013, Angus Deaton, The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality:
      All of this is nonsense, but so are all attempts to look at a few successes and a few failures and make fatuous generalizations based on coincidence. Etruscan and Roman haruspices did the same thing with the entrails of chickens.

Translations

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *haruspeks, from earlier *xaruspeks (to differentiate it from a later form *haruspeks if the shift */x/ > */h/ in the Italic languages already happened during late Proto-Italic), equivalent to haru- (intestines) + *spex. The first component is related to hīra; the second is from the root of speciō (to observe, watch).[1] Compare Faliscan 𐌇𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌔𐌐(𐌄𐌗) (harisp(ex)). According to Nocentini[2] the first part stems from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (intestine) (thus *ǵʰr̥H-u- > *xaru-), whence also Latin hariolus, hernia (hernia).

Cognate to Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ), Proto-Germanic *garnō (intestines) (whence German Garn) and to Lithuanian žarnà (intestine). The component -spex can also be found in the word auspex.

Pronunciation

Noun

haruspex m (genitive haruspicis); third declension

  1. diviner who reads from the intestines of sacrificial animals; one who practices haruspicy.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative haruspex haruspicēs
Genitive haruspicis haruspicum
Dative haruspicī haruspicibus
Accusative haruspicem haruspicēs
Ablative haruspice haruspicibus
Vocative haruspex haruspicēs

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Catalan: harúspex
  • English: haruspex
  • Finnish: haruspeksi
  • German: Haruspex
  • Italian: aruspice
  • Portuguese: arúspice
  • Sicilian: arùspici
  • Spanish: arúspice

References

  • haruspex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • haruspex”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • haruspex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • haruspex”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  1. “aruspice” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN
  2. “aruspice” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

Slovak

Etymology

Derived from Latin haruspex.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɦaruspeks/

Noun

haruspex m anim (genitive singular haruspika, nominative plural haruspikovia, declension pattern of chlap)

  1. haruspex

Declension

Further reading

  • haruspex”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024
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