augur

Augur is a term with several related meanings. In ancient Rome, an augur was a priest whose role was to interpret signs from the gods—especially the flight of birds and other omens—to forecast events and to authorize public actions. Augurs conducted rituals to obtain divine approval for decisions such as elections, military campaigns, and treaties. They observed auspices and prodigies, and their judgments could influence political and religious life. The augurs were part of the College of Augurs, an established priestly body with the authority to interpret omens and to pronounce lawful or disallowed actions.

The word derives from Latin augur, related to auspex, meaning “bird-watcher” or “one who reads birds.” The verb augur means to foretell or to foreshadow, and augural describes events or signs relating to omens.

In modern technology, Augur refers to a decentralized prediction market platform built on the Ethereum blockchain. Augur enables users to create and trade on markets about real-world events, such as politics, economics, or sports outcomes. Markets are resolved through a decentralized reporting mechanism in which participants stake on outcomes; the platform uses a native token, REP, to incentivize accurate reporting of results. Augur is cited as an early example of blockchain-based prediction markets and illustrates how the concept of forecasting from crowd information has migrated into digital ecosystems.