Ab ovo isLatin for "from the beginning, the origin, theegg". The term is a reference to one of the twin eggs from whichHelen of Troy was born. The eggs were laid byLeda afterZeus, disguised as a swan, either seduced and mated with or raped her, according to different versions. HadLeda not laid the egg,Helen would not have been born, soParis could not have eloped with her, so there would have been noTrojan War.[1]
TheEnglish literary use of the phrase comes fromHorace'sArs Poetica, where he describes his ideal epic poet as one who "does not begin the Trojan War from the double egg" (nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ouo), the absolute beginning of events, the earliest possible chronological point, but snatches the listener into the middle of things (in medias res). This advice is famously rejected inLaurence Sterne's novelThe Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.
This use is distinct from the longer phraseab ovo usque ad mala (lit. "from the egg to the apples") which appears in Horace'sSatire 1.3. It refers to the course of a Roman meal, which often began with eggs and ended with fruit, and is similar to the American English phrase "soup to nuts". Thusab ovo can also be used to mean a complete or entire thing.
