Note 607 — Chapter V · THE AUSPICES
Reading edition
The derivation is unknown. Wissowa, in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encycl. ii. 2313 f., summarizes the principal theories. Probability seems to favor the view that it is a combination of the root of avis with a verbal noun meaning “to see” or the like; Walde, Lat. etym. Wörterb. 55.