circumspecto

Forms

circumspectō (present infinitive circumspectāre, perfect active circumspectāvī, supine circumspectātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin circum- + spectō (“to look at”),^[2][1] beside circumspiciō.^[3] spectō is the frequentative of speciō (“to see”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *spekje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-ie/o- (“to look”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit पश्यति (páśyati, “to look at”) and Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look around”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has someone looking about him and recognizing the house, circumspectat sese atque aedis noscitat.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to look about oneself, to look round, and the TLL notes that it nearly always implies some anxiety.^[2][3] Transitively it is to look round at, to examine or watch, especially suspiciously: Horace has poets looking round with disdain at the temple open to Roman bards.^[2] Livy uses it of looking round at someone in expectation, of seeing oneself surrounded by water, and of keeping watch against an attack on the foragers.^[2] It also means to look round for, to search for: Terence has someone looking round for something, and Cicero uses it of a man in difficulty, doubting, looking about, hesitating.^[2] Figuratively it is to survey mentally, or to look out for a plan or an opportunity, as when Livy has men watching for a moment to revolt.^[2] Glossaries explain it as to be anxious.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of looking about.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence, of looking round for something.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a man in difficulty.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of watching for an opportunity.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look about oneself, look round.^[2][6][1]
2. To look round at, examine, watch, especially suspiciously;^[2][6] to be on the alert.^[2]
3. To look round for, search for;^[2][6] to watch for an opportunity.^[2]
4. To survey mentally.^[2]

Word family

• circumspectātrix

Related words

• circumspiciō
• spectō
• speciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press