10 February 2013

augur

[aw-ger]

noun

1. one of a group of ancient Roman officials charged with observing and interpreting omens for guidance in public affairs.
2. soothsayer; prophet.
verb (used with object)
3. to divine or predict, as from omens; prognosticate.
4. to serve as an omen or promise of; foreshadow; betoken: Mounting sales augur a profitable year.
verb (used without object)
5. to conjecture from signs or omens; predict.
6. to be a sign; bode: The movement of troops augurs ill for the peace of the area.

Origin:
1540–50; < Latin augur (variant of auger ) a diviner, soothsayer, derivative of augēre to augment with orig. implication of “prosper”; cf. august

Today’s aphorism

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.

– Bertolt Brecht

On this day

10 February 1898 – birth of Bertolt Brecht, German playwright, writer and theatre practitioner.

10 February 1992 – death of Alex Haley, U.S. author of ‘Roots‘, ‘Malcolm X‘. (Born 1921).