suspectio

Forms

suspectiō f (genitive suspectiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin suspiciō¹ (“to look up at; to suspect”) + -tiō.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Apuleius' Metamorphoses and in the Strategemata of Frontinus it means suspicion.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is the suspecting of something evil, the same as suspīciō.^[2][3] Caelius Aurelianus, Fulgentius and Hegesippus use it so, Hegesippus in the plural.^[3] From the other sense of the verb, “to look up at”, Arnobius and Fulgentius use it for high esteem or veneration, a sense L&S calls very rare.^[5][3][6]

Medieval Latin used it for suspicion, of a particular wrongdoing too, for the thing suspected, and in the phrase suspectiōnī habēre, “to suspect”.^[7] It appears in the Lombard laws and the capitularies,^[8] and Du Cange cites a saint's life in which it means hope.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it for suspicion.^[3][4][10]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it for high esteem.^[5][3][10]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it for suspicion.^[3][6][10]
• c. 500 AD – Fulgentius uses it in both senses.^[3][10]
• 1251 – An English record of forest pleas reports a suspicion against a man wearing a mask.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Suspicion, the suspecting of something evil.^[2][3][6]
2. (Late Latin) High esteem, veneration, admiration.^[5][3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Something suspected;^[7] suspectiōnī habēre, to suspect.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Hope.^[9]

Related words

• suspectus¹
• English suspicion

Usage notes

The usual word for suspicion is suspīciō, with which Georges equates it.^[3] Du Cange notes that where the laws of Liutprand have suspectio, the Lombard law book reads suspicio.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Liber exquisiti xenii: Lexikon frühmittelalterlicher Rechtswörter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de