especioso

Forms

especioso (feminine especiosa, masculine plural especiosos, feminine plural especiosas, metaphonic)^[1] Houaiss records specioso in the 15th century and especioso in 1657.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin speciōsus (“good-looking, beautiful”), formed from speciēs (“appearance”) with the suffix -ōsus.^[2][3][1][4] Nascentes takes it by a semi-learned route.^[5] Already in Latin the adjective meant both “of fine appearance” and “having only the appearance of truth”, since the noun, set against rēs (“the real thing”), could mean a pretext.^[6]

The same Latin word is Spanish especioso, Italian specioso, Romanian specios and French spécieux;^[1][6] French borrowed it about 1370.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss records the word in the 15th century, spelt specioso; the spelling especioso follows in 1657, and Cunha places the word in the 17th century with the sense “deceptive in appearance”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Caldas Aulete quotes Arrais for the forma especiosa of a maiden, and Padre António Vieira for especiosas lágrimas, “tender, heartfelt tears”.^[7] Morais (1813) defines it as “of good appearance, coloured”, as of reasons, motives and pretexts.^[8] Vieira's dictionary (1871) gives “beautiful, perfect” and “having good appearances”, quoting o pretexto especioso de Religião “the specious pretext of religion”.^[9] Figueiredo (1899) lists “of good appearance”, “illusory”, “misleading under an appearance of truth” and “beautiful”.^[10] Today the sense “deceptive, specious” comes first, and “beautiful, attractive” is literary.^[2][11][12]

Timeline

• 15th century – first record, spelt specioso.^[2]
• 1657 – the spelling especioso.^[2]
• 1813 – Morais defines it for reasons and pretexts of good appearance;^[8][3] Cunha dates especiosidade to the same year.^[8][3]
• 1871 – Vieira gives the senses “beautiful” and “having good appearances”.^[9]
• 1899 – Figueiredo lists the illusory and the beautiful senses side by side.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Deceptive in appearance; illusory (ilusório), misleading (enganoso).^[2][11][12]
2. True or just only in appearance; specious: um raciocínio especioso.^{[2][11][13][1]}
3. (literary) Beautiful, attractive, delicate, comely (formoso).^{[2][11][13][12]}
4. Showing feeling or affection; tender.^[13][7]

Word family

• especiosidade

Related words

• espécie
• Latin speciōsus
• French spécieux

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. especioso
3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. especioso
4. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. speciosus
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. especioso
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. spécieux
7. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. especioso
8. ^ a b c Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 757
9. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 328
10. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 551
11. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. especioso
12. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. especioso
13. ^ a b c Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. especioso