speciose Latin · revision 34423

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1st century BC, Horace|origins=ine-pro *speḱ-ie/o-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''speciōsē''' (comparative ''speciōsius'', superlative ''speciōsissimē'').^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|speciōsus|-ē|t1=good-looking, showy]].^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS) The adjective is formed from [[m|la|speciēs|t=appearance, look]] with [[m|la|-ōsus]],^(OLD 2012) and that noun from [[m|la|speciō|t=to look at]], which de Vaan traces to [[ine-pro|*speḱ-ie/o-|t=to look]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in the ''Bellum Africum'',^(Köbler 2010) where forces are drawn up ''quam speciosissime potuit'', as impressively as possible.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) The OLD's first quotation in the sense “gracefully” is from Horace's Epistles: no one handles arms more gracefully.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means attractively or gracefully,^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) and Quintilian applies it to literary style, saying that Virgil used a figure most beautifully in his bees and his Daedalus.^(OLD 2012) More often it means showily or impressively: Livy asks whether a horse is to be more handsomely caparisoned than a wife is dressed, and Valerius Maximus says that Cornelius Rufinus held the dictatorship with great distinction.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) In Florus it is “speciously”, with a finer pretext: the Samnites are attacked not on one's own behalf but, more plausibly, on behalf of allies.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ Medieval writers in Britain use it of things beautifully made and of splendid display.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 2nd half of the 1st century BC – The ''Bellum Africum'' uses it of troops drawn up impressively.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses the comparative of handling arms gracefully.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a richly caparisoned horse.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of literary style.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 120 AD – Florus uses it in the sense “speciously”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 940 – A charter says that every creature was beautifully formed in the beginning.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # [[m|en|attractively|alt=Attractively]], [[m|en|gracefully]]; elegantly (of style).^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Conte 2010)

+ # [[m|en|showily|alt=Showily]], splendidly, impressively.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis 1890)

+ # [[m|en|speciously|alt=Speciously]], plausibly.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[speciōsus]]

+ * [[speciēs]]

+ * [[speciō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}