spectre

Forms

spectre m (plural spectres)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spectrum (“image, apparition”),^[2][3][4] from speciō (“to look at”).^[2][3][5] In Epicurean philosophy the Latin word rendered Greek εἴδωλον (eídōlon), for the images given off by physical objects that cause mental pictures or apparitions;^[2][3] Rey notes that this sense sets it apart from the other words from the Latin verb, such as spectacle.^[3]

The sense in optics (1720) translates the Latin word that Newton used in English from 1671.^[2][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1524, meaning an “apparition”, in the correspondence of Guillaume Briçonnet and Marguerite d'Angoulême.^[2] In 1586 Pierre Le Loyer, in his book on spectres, defines it as the image of a bodiless substance that appears to people against the order of nature and frightens them.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the ghost of a dead person, the word took up the Latin sense “simulacrum”: un spectre de something meant a false idea or mere semblance of it (about 1630; d'Aubigné has un spectre de paix).^[3][2][5] By analogy it meant a vague, frightening vision (1640) and a very thin, haggard person who looks like a corpse (1694).^[3][2] Le spectre de, “the looming threat of”, is found in Sade in 1791.^[2][3] From the look of the animals, it named a cone shell (1736), a bat (1803), a stick insect (1803 for a mantis-like insect, 1876 for the phasmid), a moth (1842) and, in the 20th century, the tarsier.^[2][3][7]

The optical sense, the band of colours into which white light is broken, appears in 1720 in Pierre Coste's translation of Newton's Opticks.^[2][3] Physics then extended it to the breakdown of any complex radiation by wavelength, frequency or other quantity, with phrases such as spectre d'absorption (1875), spectre magnétique (1883) and spectre de masse (1949).^[3][2] The figurative sense “range of action” dates from 1969, especially in medicine, as in antibiotique à large spectre.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1524 – First record, meaning “apparition”.^[2]
• 1586 – Pierre Le Loyer's Des Spectres defines the word.^[2][4]
• 1665 – Molière uses it for a dead person seen in bodily form, in Don Juan.^[2]
• 1694 – The Académie records it for a gaunt, haggard person.^[2][3]
• 1720 – The optical sense appears in Coste's translation of Newton.^[2][3][4]
• 1736 – It names a cone shell.^[2][3]
• 1791 – Le spectre de “the threat of” is used by Sade.^[2][3]
• 1803 – Boiste records it for a bat.^[2][7]
• 1883 – Spectre magnétique is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1969 – The medical sense “spectrum of activity” of an antibiotic appears.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A frightening apparition of a dead person or a spirit, a ghost: Il était pâle comme un spectre.^[6][2][5]
2. (figurative) A very thin, pale person.^[5][2]
3. (figurative) A looming threat: le spectre de la guerre.^[6][2]
4. (physics) The band of colours produced when white light is broken up by a prisme or a grating, a spectrum: spectre solaire.^[6][5]
5. (physics) The distribution of a complex radiation by wavelength, frequency or energy: spectre d'absorption, spectre d'émission.^[6][3]
6. A range of action or effectiveness: antibiotique à large spectre.^[6][3]
7. (zoology) A name of various animals, such as a bat, a stick insect or the tarsier.^[2][7]

Word family

• spectral

Related words

• spectacle
• Latin spectrum
• Latin speciō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse