especular

Forms

especular (first-person singular present especulo, first-person singular preterite especulé, past participle especulado)^[1]

Etymology

The verb is a learned borrowing, borrowed from Latin speculor (“to observe, keep watch”).^[1][2][3] The Latin verb is derived from specula (“a lookout post, watchtower”), which comes from the old verb speciō (“to look”).^[3][4][5] De Vaan traces this old verb to Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”).^[6] Corominas lists it among the learned derivatives of that verb in his article on espectáculo.^[7]

The same Latin verb is Catalan especular, Portuguese especular and Italian speculare.^[1][8][9] French spéculer was borrowed in 1345, with the variant especuler.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Juan Fernández de Heredia's Aragonese translation of Orosius (1376–1396) has the participle speculando “foreseeing, observing”.^[11] In Castilian the first record in the CDH is Enrique de Villena's commentary on the psalm Quoniam videbo (1424), where en ello especulando means “contemplating it”.^[11] Corominas dates the word from 1438.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The Latin sense “to watch from a height” stayed in the earliest dictionary definitions: the Diccionario de Autoridades (1732) has “to look at something attentively in order to know it, as those on watchtowers do”, beside “to consider slowly and thoughtfully”, quoting Luis de Granada and Góngora.^[12][13] Nebrija had given the Latin equivalents speculor and contemplor.^[14]

The commercial sense appears in the Academy's dictionary of 1843 as “to trade”.^[15] Domínguez noted in 1846 that this sense, the latest, was already the commonest.^[16] Gaspar y Roig described it as buying and selling goods to obtain a calculated gain, and extended it to profit sought outside trade.^[17] Today the first senses are to theorize and to conjecture without enough knowledge; the sense of looking attentively comes last.^[2][18] In Puerto Rico it was recorded in 1917 for trading with sharp practice.^[19]

Timeline

• 1376–1396 – Fernández de Heredia's translation of Orosius: speculando.^[11]
• 1424 – Enrique de Villena, en ello especulando.^[11]
• 1438 – the first record Corominas gives.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin speculor and contemplor.^[14]
• 1549 – Santo Domingo: lo que me acordare haber especulado e notado.^[20]
• 1732 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the verb and the adjective “transparent”.^[12]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the sense “to trade”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. To theorize, to reflect on a purely theoretical level: Los filósofos antiguos especularon sobre el origen del mundo.^[2][5]
2. To conjecture about something without enough knowledge: La prensa especula con una posible dimisión.^[2][1][21]
3. To speculate in trade or finance, seeking profit from changes in prices or exchange rates; usually pejorative: Especulaban con solares en la costa.^[2][5]
4. To trade, to traffic.^[2]
5. To seek profit or advantage outside trade.^[2][21]
6. To examine something attentively in order to know it.^[2][12]

Word family

• especulador

Related words

• especulación
• especulativo
• espectáculo
• Latin speculor

Usage notes

A separate adjective especular “of a mirror, mirror-like”, also said of two symmetrical things that stand to each other as an object and its reflection, is speculāris, from speculum (“mirror”); its old sense “transparent” is in the Diccionario de Autoridades, quoting Juan de Mena.^[2][22][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. especular
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. espectáculo
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 739
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. especular
12. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 597
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro
14. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández
16. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez
17. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig
18. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe
19. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1999), Vocabulario de Puerto Rico, critical ed. by Humberto López Morales, Madrid: Arco/Libros (1st ed. 1937)
20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
21. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
22. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía