espectro

Forms

espectro m (plural espectros)^[1] Wiktionary also lists the spelling espetro.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spectrum (“appearance, image, apparition”), first recorded before 1566.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes calls it semi-learned.^[4] Bluteau's dictionary (1712–1728) already derived it from the old Latin verb meaning “to see, to look”.^[5]

The Latin word is formed from speciō (“to look at”) with the suffix -trum, which makes it a doublet of speculum.^[1][6] In classical Latin it occurs only in two letters between Cicero and Cassius, which report that the Epicurean Catius used it to render Ancient Greek εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “image”).^[1][7][6] Renaissance humanists revived it around 1500 in the sense “apparition, phantom”.^[1] Nascentes notes that Newton gave the name to the solar spectrum, as a beautiful apparition.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record, before 1566, has the sense “supposed apparition of a dead person”, a ghost.^[2] Bluteau describes espectros as phantoms or shades that are sometimes seen at night, in caves, woods and dark places.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries of the 18th century know only the ghost: Feijó equates it with phantasma, and Morais in 1813 with the shade of a dead person seen at night.^[8][9] Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899 adds the solar spectrum, the band of rainbow colours a prism makes of sunlight, and the colloquial sense “very thin person”.^[10] Figurative uses followed: an obsessive memory, an empty illusion, a looming threat (o espectro da fome).^[2][11] Physics then widened it to any graph or record of a distribution by magnitude, and pharmacy speaks of a largo espectro of an antibiotic.^[2][11]

Timeline

• before 1566 – first record, as “ghost”.^[2]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau's dictionary describes espectros and derives the word from Latin.^[5]
• 1734 – Feijó glosses it as phantasma.^[8]
• 1813 – Morais's second edition, Cunha's date for the word.^[9][3]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the solar spectrum and the sense “very thin person”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A supposed apparition of a dead person; a ghost, fantasma.^[2][1][12]
2. (figurative) A haunting memory or image: o espectro da guerra.^[2][12]
3. (figurative) Something empty or false; an illusion.^[2][13]
4. (figurative) A looming threat.^[13][11]
5. (informal) A very thin, pale person.^[13][11]
6. (physics) A spectrum: the band of colours or radiations obtained by dispersing light or other radiation, and any graph or record of a distribution of quantities by magnitude.^[2][1][14]
7. (pharmacy) The range of microorganisms against which an antibiotic is effective.^[11]

Word family

• espectral
• espectroscópio
• espectrômetro

Related words

• espectador
• espetáculo
• Latin spectrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. espectro
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. espectro
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. espectro
5. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espectro
6. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. spectrum
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. spectrum
8. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. espectro
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 757
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 e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. espectro
12. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. espectro
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. espectro
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 3877