spectatus
Forms
spectātus (feminine spectāta, neuter spectātum, comparative spectātior, superlative spectātissimus); first/second-declension adjective, past participle of spectō[1][2]
Etymology
It is the past participle of spectō (“to look at, watch”), used as an adjective.[1][2][3] De Vaan lists ⟨spectō⟩ under speciō (“to look”), from Proto-Italic *spekje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-ie/o- (“to look”), cognate with Sanskrit पश्यति (páśyati, “looks at”) and Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at”).[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler's first source is Plautus,[3] whose Stichus has “your good fortune is now plain enough to me”.[1]
Semantic evolution
Its first sense is “known by observation, plain, manifest”, and of facts “established”, as Plautus' “it is well established that the gods ignore a man with a master like mine”.[1] Of persons and their lives it means “of proven worth, distinguished”, as Plautus' “distinguished men have done such things before”.[1][2] Of things it is “remarkable”: Pliny the Elder says nature's craft is nowhere more remarkable than in insects.[1]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of plain good fortune and proven men.[1][3]
- 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of nature's remarkable craft.[1][3]
Meanings
Adjective
- Plain, manifest; established.[1]
- Of proven worth, distinguished, respected.[1][2]
- Remarkable, noteworthy.[1]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill