suspecto

Forms

suspectō (present infinitive suspectāre, perfect active suspectāvī, supine suspectātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin suspiciō¹ (“to look up at; to suspect”) + -tō, a frequentative formed on its participle suspectus¹.^[2][1] suspiciō¹ is a compound of sub- and speciō (“to look”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *spekje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-ie/o- (“to look”).^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek σκέπτομαι (sképtomai, “to look at”) and Sanskrit पश्यति (páśyati, “looks at”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest citation in the OLD is Terence's Eunuchus, of a girl sitting and gazing up at a painting: virgo sedet suspectans tabulam quandam pictam.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to gaze up at,^[2] as Pliny the Elder's lion looking up.^[4] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical and post-Augustan.^[4] From looking up at, it came to mean to look with mistrust upon, to be suspicious of a person or thing:^[2] Tacitus says Tiberius distrusted Arruntius as rich, energetic and gifted, and that Valens suspected treachery behind his soldiers' insolence.^[2] With an accusative and infinitive it is to suspect that something is the case.^[2]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence, of a girl gazing at a painting.^[2]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of a lion looking up.^[4][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of suspecting a man and suspecting treachery.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To gaze up at, look up at.^[2][4]
2. To suspect, mistrust, be suspicious of.^[2][1]
3. To suspect the presence of (something evil); to suspect (that).^[2]

Related words

• suspiciō¹
• suspectus¹
• speciō

Usage notes

The OLD lists a separate adverb suspectō, in suspicious circumstances, from suspectus¹;^[2] Köbler dates it from the jurist Paulus, and the Digest uses it of children who died in suspicious circumstances.^[5][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de