auspex

English

Noun

auspex (plural auspices)

1. (historical) An officiating priest in Ancient Rome.

Latin

Etymology

From *avi-spex (“who examines (the flight of) the birds”). The first part of the word is the stem of avis (“bird”). The second part is related to specere, speciō (“to watch, observe”). See also haruspex.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯s.peks/, [ˈäu̯s̠pɛks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯s.peks/, [ˈäu̯speks]

Noun

auspex m (genitive auspicis); third declension

1. an augur
2. an officiating priest

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	auspex	auspicēs
Genitive	auspicis	auspicum
Dative	auspicī	auspicibus
Accusative	auspicem	auspicēs
Ablative	auspice	auspicibus
Vocative	auspex	auspicēs

Synonyms

• augur

Coordinate terms

• haruspex, auspex

Derived terms

• auspicium

Descendants

• → Koine Greek: αὔσπιξ (aúspix)
• Italian: auspice
• Portuguese: áuspice

References

• “auspex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “auspex”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• auspex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “auspex”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “auspex”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin