Where Did “Horoscope” Originate?

The word horoscope, derived from the Greek words ōra and scopos meaning “time” and “observer”, originated in ancient Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C. In Babylon, stars and planets were used to interpret the hour of someone’s birth. By the first century BC, two varieties of astrology were in existence: one that required the reading of horoscopes to learn accurate details about the past, present, and future, and the other that involved interpreting the influence of stars and planets on earthly affairs and human destinies.

Astrology is a method of predicting mundane events based on the assumption that celestial bodies, particularly planets and stars, consider their arbitrary combinations or configurations. Astronomers observed how the movements of celestial bodies influenced events on Earth and began developing astrological signs. The earliest known use of the noun horoscope is in the Old English period (pre-1150). The word horoscope has multiple origins, partly a borrowing from Latin and partly a reborrowing.

The first known use of a horoscope was in the 14th century. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to other regions. The word comes ultimately from the Greek word hōroskopos, from hōra ‘time’ + skopos ‘observer’.