specimen Latin · revision 32354

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *speḱ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈspɛ.kɪ.mɛn]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈspɛː.t͡ʃi.men]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''specimen''' ''n'' (genitive speciminis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The OLD's quotations have only the nominative and accusative singular.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|speciō|-men|t1=to look at]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan, who dates it from Plautus, traces [[m|la|speciō]] to [[itc-pro|*spekje/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*speḱ-ie/o-|t=to look]], comparing [[sa|पश्यति|tr=páśyati|t=looks at]] and [[grc|σκέπτομαι|tr=sképtomai|t=to look around, look at]], with the consonants in reverse order.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first, in the ''Casina'', with a play on the verb: “now the proof is being seen, now the contest is decided”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is that by which a thing is seen or known: an outward sign or evidence of a quality, and of concrete things a token, as Virgil's twelve rays, the sign of a king's grandfather the Sun.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero uses it of conduct to be imitated, a model or example, and of a person who embodies a quality, as Rutilius was the very pattern of innocence.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Apuleius it is an outward form or appearance.^(OLD 2012) In medieval texts it means movable property.^(Niermeyer 1976) English took it in the 1610s, first in the sense pattern or model.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of proof that is seen.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a model of humanity and a pattern of innocence.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of a token of the Sun.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1610s – English [[m|en|specimen]] is taken over from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|sign]], mark, evidence, [[m|en|indication]]; a token.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|example]], pattern, model; a sample.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The embodiment of a quality.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Outward form, appearance.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Movable property.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}