Word of the Day: Inauguration

An inauguration is an interesting event. I have just watched the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama. I'm glad he has a name like that, and I am even happier that unlike many men of power I've heard, he actually knows how to write and deliver a speech.

Traditionally and etymologically, an inauguration is an august occasion on which something or someone is consecrated and installed while the omens of a flight of birds are read and analysed. Most of the time, this is a good thing. But one must be careful with meanings and rituals.

The word 'augur' is related to the root aug-, as in 'augment'. It descended from some ancient Indo-Aryan root, via the Greek aux- (as in 'auxillary'). It means something like 'the priest whose divinations increase our prosperity'. An inauguration is therefore an event aimed at the increase of prosperity of the state.

But what about the flight of birds? Well, that comes from the Latin auspex, literally 'one who watches birds'. If the auspices (i.e. the way in which the birds behave) were good, then the inauguration would be a success. We can relate this to the motto of the English adventurer Raffles, Auspicium Melioris Aevi, which when taken in a completely literal sense would mean, "Watching the birds to see if good times are coming," or more simply, "Looking for a good time."