conspicor

Forms

cōnspicor (present infinitive cōnspicārī, perfect active cōnspicātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

The OLD analyses it as con-, the root ⟨spic-⟩ of speciō (“to look”), and a verbal ending;^[2][1][3] Wiktionary suggests a noun ⟨*cōnspex⟩ or the model of auspicor, and the Thesaurus compares suspicor and ⟨dēspicātus⟩.^[2][1][3] The verb speciō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-ie/o- (“to look”).^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit पश्यति (páśyati, “sees”) and Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first examples in the OLD are in Plautus, as “I don't see anyone else in the street”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to catch sight of or see, and to notice or perceive.^[2][5] Varro and Sallust use it in a passive sense, “to be conspicuous, be seen”.^[2] Lewis & Short note that it is very frequent in Plautus and Caesar and used several times by Terence, but rare elsewhere and never found in Lucretius, Cicero, Virgil or Horace.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of catching sight of someone.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence.^[5][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it often.^[5][6]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust in a passive sense.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To catch sight of, see, descry.^[2][5][1]
2. To notice, observe, perceive; in a passive sense, to be conspicuous.^[2][1]

Word family

• cōnspicābundus

Related words

• cōnspiciō
• speciō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de