The corpus record — Latin

oscen

oscen · m

a singing-bird

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Griphus Ternarii numeri 1 · 9.35/10k
Technopaegnion 1 · 6.73/10k
Contra Symmachum 1 · 0.83/10k
Carmina 1 · 0.75/10k
De Divinatione 1 · 0.36/10k
de Natura Deorum 1 · 0.28/10k
Epistulae ad Familiares 1 · 0.09/10k
Res Gestae 1 · 0.08/10k
Naturalis Historia 3 · 0.08/10k

What it meant

1. oscen — Lewis & Short

oscen, ĭnis, m. (but f. ap.

Varr. L. L. 6, 7, 67; Plin. 10, 19, 22, § 43) [obscen, from obs-cano],

I a singing-bird, esp. in the auspices; a divining-bird, from whose notes auguries were taken (e. g. the raven, crow, owl): aves aut oscines sunt, aut praepetes: oscines, quae ore futura praedicunt; praepetes, quae volatu augurium significant, Serv. Verg. A. 3, 361; Cic. Fam. 6, 6, 13: oscinem corvum prece suscitabo, Hor. C. 3, 27, 11; Plin. 10, 19, 22, § 43; App. de Deo Soc. p. 45, 29: Phoebeius, i. e. the crow metamorphosed by Phœbus, Aus. Idyll. 11, 15.

2. oscen — Walde–Hofmann

oscen, -inis m. , Weissagevogel" (z. B. Rabe, Krähe, Specht, deren Geschrei bei den Auspizien beobachtet wurde) (seit Varro und Cic., davon oscinci»um Fest. p. 197 [Paul. Fest. p. 196) nach Ernout Mél. Vendryes 151): Wort der Auguralsprache, aus *obs-cen (obs- + canere, Corssen 1? 121); vgl. Paul. Fest. p.196 & cantü avium, Cic. div. 1, 120 twm à desträ, tum à sinisträ parte canent oscinzs (s. Pease z. St.; vgl. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. oscen, p. 1132]

In the wild

oscine Prudentius, Contra Symmachum 2.1.571
oscines Cicero, De Divinatione 1.120
oscines Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 10.29.p2
oscinem Horace, Carmina 3.27
oscinibus Ausonius, Technopaegnion 12.12
oscines Cicero, de Natura Deorum 2.160

6 of 11 attestations shown.

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. oscen (scan p. 494; entry #8021).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. oscen (scan p. 1132; entry #1912).

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.