Word of the Day: PREMONITION
Inkling, intuition, or anticipation
premonition (noun) - feeling or fear that something is going to happen; a presentiment or portent [pree-muh-nish-uhn]
BREAKDOWN: PRE- (before) + MON- (to warn or remind) + -ITION (act or state)
premonitory means ominous, cautionary, or foreboding
“Every anxiety is a mild form of premonition, and from that point the shade deepens till we get the forebodings and hauntings that merge into lunacy.” —Arthur Alfred Lynch
The MON- root is doing something fascinating here. It's the same root that gives us 'monster' — which originally meant 'divine omen' or 'that which warns.' So a monster wasn't scary because it was dangerous, but because it was a premonition made flesh.
Same root shows up in 'admonish' (warn toward), 'monitor' (one who warns), and 'monument' (that which reminds). There's something poetic about how warning and remembering share the same Latin ancestor — as if the ancients understood that memory and foresight are two sides of the same coin.