exspectatio

Forms

exspectātiō f (genitive exspectātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled expectātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin exspectō (“to wait for, expect”) + -tiō.^[2][1][4] The verb is ex- and spectō (“to look at”), from speciō (“to look”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *spekje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”), cognate with Sanskrit पश्यति (páśyati, “sees”) and Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus;^[5] the OLD's first example is Accius: “waiting in hope often makes the brave a coward”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is waiting in suspense, hopeful expectancy, as Cicero's speech heard by many “with great expectation”, and longing to know something.^[2][3] It is also the expectation of what is to come: in Cicero nothing raises a laugh more than what is contrary to expectation, and in exspectātiōne esse is to be awaited.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “expectation, hope, waiting, longing”.^[6] English expectation (1530s) comes from it, perhaps through French.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[5][7]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of waiting in hope.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of expectancy and the unexpected.^[2][7]
• 1530s – English expectation.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Waiting, suspense; expectancy; longing (to know).^[2][1][6]
2. Expectation (of what will happen).^[2][1][3]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Hope.^[6]

Related words

• exspectō
• spectō
• speciō
• English expectation

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de