Looks Dangerous . . . You Go First

Roman Political Terms in Modern America

By Amy Barr with The Lukeion Project

The Romans loved traditions, ceremonies, and rituals. We cannot be critical. We borrowed a lot of their pomp for our political circumstance. If you know a little Latin, you can easily demystify several important words that we find in American government. Now, good luck with demystifying the rest of it.

An inauguration was the Roman method of checking in with the gods before any elected official took office after votes were tallied. Serious-looking men in togas would stand in one spot and watch for bird behavior. The type of bird and direction or flight style helped Roman officials say “yea” or “nay” to the newly elected official. Inauguration comes from the Latin verb inauguro meaning “to take the auguries.”  The verb can also be used to indicate consecration or installation, a difference I suppose that was based on whether you enjoy the winning candidate…or not so much. The persons tasked with looking at birds following elections were called augurs which we might benignly refer to as a priest or less so, a soothsayer or seer.

Inauguration was a term applied so early in Roman politics that the ancient writer Livy included it in his description of Romulus and Remus. The twins decided to settle who would name their new city when they picked vultures to help them decide. Spoiler! The name is Rome not Reme. Romulus, it seems, was popular with vultures. Remus was also popular with vultures but wasn’t so popular with his brother who ended the discussion with a fist fight. Thus, birds (in this case a pack of vultures) and fisticuffs determined state policy.

If the birds agree with you (and your policies) you proclaim that it is all auspicious (from auspex, Latin for “bird watcher”). If your plan was deemed inauspicious, you made a fast contribution to the Roman Audubon Society found in the pockets of the pontifex maximus and called for a bird recount.

The precedent for having a president also started with the Romans. Praesidens was an all-purpose term for a leader and means literally “guy sitting out front.” The Romans would argue that the job description “guy in front” was way better than being a king or tyrant. I think that it is simply concise Latin for, “that looks dangerous...you go first” or maybe “they’ll come at you first if they grow angry with us.”

The Romans considered most politicians to be old and set in their ways, so they named the major governing body in Rome the senate. Though the word sounds dignified or important to the modern ear, senatus is just Latin via the word senex for “pack of old guys.”  Congress, alas, simply means “a group of people.” The Romans really preferred to keep their politicians humble. It is their lack of Latin knowledge (among other things) that keeps our politicians from toning things down.

Our founding fathers were well versed in Classical languages. They were not ignorant. On the contrary, they were realists. With all the austerity that Latin can muster, they established that our nation would be governed by a pack of old guys, a group of people, and somebody sitting out front. Meanwhile in reality, a bunch of vultures and other bird brains are the ones calling all the shots. The more you know!

What about other weird governance terms? I love the adjective gubernatorial. We use it today in the U.S. to describe the election of the top State leader. The English word comes from the Latin term gubernator (or gubernatrix) meaning a helmsman or pilot of a ship. The verb guberno comes from a Greek word that means “steer a ship safely.” If you say the word carefully, you will notice that it did not take much to go from the word guberno to government and governor. Our governors are meant to steer the ship of state no matter what storms or icebergs come our way.

The next time a pack of vultures chooses your pilot, your assembly of old guys, or the guy out front, think fondly of Latin.