omen
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English
Etymology
From Latin ōmen (“foreboding, omen”).
Pronunciation
Noun
omen (plural omens)
- Something which portends or is perceived to portend either a good or evil event or circumstance in the future, or which causes a foreboding; a portent or augury.
- The ghost's appearance was an ill omen.
- A rise in imports might be an omen of economic recovery.
- The egg has, during the span of history, represented mystery, magic, medicine, food and omen.
- 1856, Gustave Flaubert, chapter 10, in Eleanor Marx-Aveling, transl., Madame Bovary, Part 3:
- Day broke. He saw three black hens asleep in a tree. He shuddered, horrified at this omen. Then he promised the Holy Virgin three chasubles for the church, and that he would go barefooted from the cemetery at Bertaux to the chapel of Vassonville.
- A thing of prophetic significance.
- A sign of ill omen.
Usage notes
- Adjectives often applied to "omen": good, ill, bad, auspicious, evil, favorable, happy, lucky.
Synonyms
- augury, auspice, forecast, foreshadowing, foretoken, forewarning, harbinger, herald, hint, indication, oracle, portent, prediction, presage, prophecy, sign, signal, token, warning; danger sign, straw in the wind, (hand)writing on the wall; see also Thesaurus:omen
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
something which portends or is perceived to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; an augury or foreboding
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prophetic significance
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb
omen (third-person singular simple present omens, present participle omening, simple past and past participle omened)
- (transitive) To be an omen of.
- (intransitive) To divine or predict from omens.
Synonyms
- prognosticate, betoken, forecast, foretell, portend, foreshadow, bode, augur, prefigure, predict, auspicate, presage
See also
Further reading
- “omen”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “omen”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
Basque
Etymology
Uncertain, perhaps from Latin ōmen (“omen”), but the semantic shift is problematic. If it's not a borrowing, from something akin to Proto-Basque *oben.
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Noun
omen inan
Declension
Declension of omen (inanimate, ending in consonant)
| indefinite | singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| absolutive | omen | omena | omenak |
| ergative | omenek | omenak | omenek |
| dative | omeni | omenari | omenei |
| genitive | omenen | omenaren | omenen |
| comitative | omenekin | omenarekin | omenekin |
| causative | omenengatik | omenarengatik | omenengatik |
| benefactive | omenentzat | omenarentzat | omenentzat |
| instrumental | omenez | omenaz | omenez |
| inessive | omenetan | omenean | omenetan |
| locative | omenetako | omeneko | omenetako |
| allative | omenetara | omenera | omenetara |
| terminative | omenetaraino | omeneraino | omenetaraino |
| directive | omenetarantz | omenerantz | omenetarantz |
| destinative | omenetarako | omenerako | omenetarako |
| ablative | omenetatik | omenetik | omenetatik |
| partitive | omenik | — | — |
| prolative | omentzat | — | — |
Derived terms
Particle
omen
- reportedly, apparently, I think
- Eguraldia hobetu omen da. ― It seems like the weather has improved.
Usage notes
In Basque, yes/no questions require a modal particle. The most common one is al, which introduces no additional meaning. For tentative questions, ote is used. The related particle omen indicates hearsay, but it's not used to form direct questions. All these particles are placed immediately before (auxiliary) verb forms.
Derived terms
References
- ^ “omen” in Etymological Dictionary of Basque by R. L. Trask, sussex.ac.uk
Further reading
- "omen" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
- “omen” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
Latin
Etymology
From Old Latin osmen, of uncertain origin, with many origins proposed:
- Ancient authors derived it from ōs (“mouth”).
- Derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to see, perceive”) (whence audiō) or from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to perceive”), whence Ancient Greek οἴομαι (oíomai, “I think, believe, suppose”).
- Per Beneviste and Oettinger, connected to Hittite (hā-ᶻᶦ, “to believe, trust”) via a supposed Proto-Indo-European *h₂e/oh₃-s-mn (“trust”). De Vaan considers this semantically unconvincing.
- Per De Vaan (who doubts the authenticity of the Old Latin form osmen), most likely from Proto-Italic *okʷsmn- (“sighting, omen”), from an s-present form of Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“to see; eye”) + *-men (whence -men).
- An alternative theory by Meier-Brügger derives the word from Proto-Indo-European *Hoģ-smen (“speech, what was predicted”), from an o-grade of Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- (“to say”) (whence aiō (“id”)). This is semantically attractive, but requires the existence of the otherwise unattested-in-Latin o-grade of aiō, as well as an atypical formation of a smen-derivative from the Proto-Indo-European perfect *He-Hoǵ-.
Pronunciation
Noun
ōmen n (genitive ōminis); third declension
- omen, sign, harbinger, portent, token (an object or occurrence believed to portend or predict a future event, circumstance, situation, or state of affairs)
- Synonym: ōrāculum
- 45 BCE, Cicero, De divinatione 1.46.104:
- Quod omen res consecuta est; ipsa enim brevi mortua est, virgo autem nupsit, cui Caecilia nupta fuerat. Haec posse contemni vel etiam rideri praeclare intellego, sed id ipsum est deos non putare, quae ab iis significantur, contemnere.
- And this was a sign of what came to pass, for in a short time Caecilia died and the girl married her aunt's husband. I realize perfectly well that these omens may be lightly regarded and even be laughed at, but to make light of signs sent by the gods is nothing less than to disbelieve in the existence of the gods.
- Quod omen res consecuta est; ipsa enim brevi mortua est, virgo autem nupsit, cui Caecilia nupta fuerat. Haec posse contemni vel etiam rideri praeclare intellego, sed id ipsum est deos non putare, quae ab iis significantur, contemnere.
- ~101 CE, Juvenal, Satires 4.123–125:
- non cedit Veiiento, sed ut fanaticus oestro / percussus, Bellona, tuo diuinat et "ingens / omen habes" inquit "magni clarique triumphi..."
- Veiientus yields not, but as one inspired by the maddening / influence of the goddess Bellona, prophesies. "A mighty / token this you possess" he says "of some great and illustrious triumph..."
- non cedit Veiiento, sed ut fanaticus oestro / percussus, Bellona, tuo diuinat et "ingens / omen habes" inquit "magni clarique triumphi..."
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ōmen | ōmina |
| Genitive | ōminis | ōminum |
| Dative | ōminī | ōminibus |
| Accusative | ōmen | ōmina |
| Ablative | ōmine | ōminibus |
| Vocative | ōmen | ōmina |
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “omen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “omen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- omen in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- omen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to wish prosperity to an undertaking: aliquid optimis ominibus prosequi (vid. sect. VI. 11., note Prosequi...)
- and may heaven avert the omen! heaven preserve us from this: quod di immortales omen avertant! (Phil. 44. 11)
- to accept as a happy omen: omen accipere (opp. improbare)
- to interpret something as an omen: accipere, vertere aliquid in omen
- with favourable omens: faustis ominibus
- an evil omen; presage of ill: omen infaustum, triste
- to wish prosperity to an undertaking: aliquid optimis ominibus prosequi (vid. sect. VI. 11., note Prosequi...)
- “omen”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- ^ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “omen”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
- ^ Watkins, Calvert (1985) The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “ōmen”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 427-8
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
Noun
omen n (definite singular omenet, indefinite plural omen or omener or omina, definite plural omena or omenene or ominaene)
- an omen
References
- “omen” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology 1
Noun
omen n (definite singular omenet, indefinite plural omen, definite plural omena)
- an omen
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Noun
omen m
References
- “omen” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old Galician-Portuguese
Noun
omen m
- Alternative form of ome
Polish
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin ōmen, from Old Latin osmen. First attested in 1585, originally as a neuter noun.
Pronunciation
Noun
omen m inan
- (literary) omen, foreboding
- Synonyms: przepowiednia, wróżba, zapowiedź
- dobry omen ― good omen
- zły omen ― bad/ill omen
Declension
Declension of omen
Related terms
phrase
References
Further reading
- omen in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- omen in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Swedish
Etymology
Noun
omen n
- an omen
- dåliga omen
- bad omens
Declension
| Declension of omen | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | omen | omenet | omen | omenen |
| Genitive | omens | omenets | omens | omenens |