By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Auspicious
“Auspicious,” pronounced aw SPISH us, means “favorable or promising success.” It comes from the Latin avis — bird — and specere — to look or see. It literally means bird seer.
This is a perfect illustration of why words can be interesting for different reasons. Some words are just fun to say, like “bastinado,” “quotidian” and “fungible.” Some words have interesting meanings: A “vomitorium” may not be what you think. Some words, like auspicious, have interesting origins that give insight into history, culture and even science.
In ancient Rome bird seers, called augers, were priests who based prophesies on the behavior of birds. Certain birds and their behaviors were viewed as omens. The location of Rome was determined by augury when Romulus and Remus couldn’t agree on the exact place and decided to let the gods settle the matter. They sat down on the hills to observe the flight of vultures, which were considered favorable omens.
Ancient Romans wrote of the eating patterns of chickens used on military expeditions. The leeper of the uspice Chcickens, known as the pullarius, was an important military person in charge of their care. The pullarius would throw food down, release the chickens and observe their behavior. By reading their reactions he would let the army know whether the time was favorable for battle.
While this seems fanciful now, we are still discovering the extent of bird intelligence. Birds may not be able to foretell the future, but they have been known to predict weather and natural disasters. Modern research reveals many birds have complex communication systems, sophisticated navigation skills, deductive reasoning abilities, self-awareness and even a sense of numbers. It may be that calling someone a birdbrain is not such an insult after all.
