specimen

Forms

specimen n (genitive speciminis); third declension^[1] The OLD's quotations have only the nominative and accusative singular.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin speciō (“to look at”) + -men.^[2][1] De Vaan, who dates it from Plautus, traces speciō to Proto-Italic *spekje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-ie/o- (“to look”), comparing Sanskrit पश्यति (páśyati, “looks at”) and Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look around, look at”), with the consonants in reverse order.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, in the Casina, with a play on the verb: “now the proof is being seen, now the contest is decided”.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is that by which a thing is seen or known: an outward sign or evidence of a quality, and of concrete things a token, as Virgil's twelve rays, the sign of a king's grandfather the Sun.^[2][3] Cicero uses it of conduct to be imitated, a model or example, and of a person who embodies a quality, as Rutilius was the very pattern of innocence.^[2][3] In Apuleius it is an outward form or appearance.^[2] In medieval texts it means movable property.^[5] English took it in the 1610s, first in the sense pattern or model.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of proof that is seen.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a model of humanity and a pattern of innocence.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of a token of the Sun.^[2][7]
• 1610s – English specimen is taken over from it.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sign, mark, evidence, indication; a token.^[2][3][8][1]
2. An example, pattern, model; a sample.^[2][8][1]
3. The embodiment of a quality.^[2]
4. Outward form, appearance.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) Movable property.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson