Etymologically
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conspicor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkõː.spɪ.kɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔn.spi.kor][1]

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

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