Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “horoscope” come from?

Horoscope comes from Middle French horoscope, Medieval Latin horoscopus, and Ancient Greek ὡροσκόπος, ultimately from the root speḱ- meaning "to observe or watch," which also produced σκοπός and σκέπτομαι in Ancient Greek.

horoscope (English): The position of the planets and stars at the...

Definitions

  1. The position of the planets and stars at the...

Ancestry of “horoscope”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchhoroscope—
2Medieval Latinhoroscopushoroscope
3Ancient Greekὡροσκόποςone who watches the time
4Ancient Greekσκοπόςwatcher, lookout; protector, guardian; spy, scout
5Ancient GreekσκέπτομαιI look at, examine; I examine, consider, think
6Proto-Hellenicsképťomaito look at
7Proto-Indo-Europeanspéḱyetito be looking at, to keep looking at
8Proto-Indo-Europeanspeḱ-to see, to look, to observe

Words derived from “horoscope”

  • horoscopic
  • horoscopist
  • horoscopical
  • horoscoper
  • ホロスコープ
Every word from Proto-Indo-European speḱ- →