Omen

Omen (perhaps originally osmen, for ausmen; root, audio, ‘I hear’); also PRODIGY (Lat. prodigium for prodicium, from prodio), names given by the Romans to signs by which approaching good or bad fortune was supposed to be indicated. The former applied particularly to signs received by the ear and spoken words; the latter, to phenomena and occurrences, such as monstrous births, the appearance of snakes, the striking of the foot against a stone, the breaking of a shoe-tie, sneezing, and the like. It was supposed that evil indicated as approaching might be averted by various means, as by sacrifices, or by the utterance of certain magic formulas; or by an extempore felicity of interpretation, as when Cæsar, having fallen upon the ground on landing in Africa, exclaimed: ‘I take possession of thee, Africa.’ Occasionally we read of a reckless disregard of omens; as, for example, when P. Clandius in the first Punic war caused the sacred chickens, which refused to leave their cage, to be pitched into the sea, saying: ‘If they won’t eat, let them drink.’ The belief in omens in one form or other has existed in all ages and countries, and traces of it linger in the folklore of all countries. And, indeed, there is no little philosophy in the Scotch proverb: ‘Them that follow freits, freits follow.’ See AUGURIES, DIVINATION, and FOLKLORE.