haruspex

See also: Haruspex

English

Alternative forms

• aruspex

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin haruspex.

Noun

haruspex (plural haruspices)

1. A soothsayer or priest in Ancient Rome (originally Etruscan) who practiced divination by inspecting entrails.
   • Template:RQ:Florio Montaigne Essayes

Translations

one who practices divination by inspecting entrails

• Faliscan: harispex (harispex)
• French: haruspice (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: aruspicina (it) f
• Portuguese: arúspice (pt) m or f

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Latin

Etymology

haru- (“intestines”) + -spex, from speciō (“to observe, watch”). Compare Faliscan 𐌇𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌔𐌐(𐌄𐌗) (harisp(ex)).

(deprecated template usage)

According to Nocentini the first part stems from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“intestine”), whence also Latin hariolus, hernia (“hernia”), and it is cognate to Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ), Proto-Germanic *garnō (“intestines”) (whence German Garn) and to Lithuanian žarnà (“intestine”).

The second part of haru-spex can also be found in the Latin word auspex.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /haˈrus.peks/, [häˈrʊs̠pɛks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈrus.peks/, [äˈruspeks]

• Audio (Classical):

  (file)

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

• augur, auspex

Derived terms

• haruspica
• haruspiciālis
• haruspicīnus
• haruspicium

Descendants

• English: haruspex
• Finnish: haruspeksi
• German: Haruspex
• Italian: aruspice
• Spanish: harúspice

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

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Slovak

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin haruspex.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɦaruspeks/

Noun

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

1. haruspex

Declension

Declension of haruspex

	singular	plural
nominative	haruspex	haruspikovia
genitive	haruspika	haruspikov
dative	haruspikovi	haruspikom
accusative	haruspika	haruspikov
locative	haruspikovi	haruspikoch
instrumental	haruspikom	haruspikmi

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