spero Latin · revision 7100

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la spēs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈspeː.roː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈspɛː.ro]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''spērō''' (present infinitive spērāre, perfect active spērāvī, supine spērātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from Old Latin *spēsō, from [[spēs]] “hope” with the verb suffix [[-ō]].^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of placing one's hopes in a person and of hoping that.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant to hope for something desired, as in Terence, to put one's hopes in a person, and to hope that or hope to do something, all from Plautus onwards.^(OLD 2012) ''Nōn spērō'' meant “I hope not”, ''bene spērāre'' to have good hopes, as Cicero's ''dē rē pūblicā bene spērāre''.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis and Short note that hoping for something desirable is its predominant sense, but in Virgil and others it also meant to expect or apprehend something bad.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to hope, trust, expect, look forward to.^(Stelten 1995) It survives in Italian ''sperare'' and French, Spanish and Portuguese ''espérer'', ''esperar'', and [[en|sperate]] “likely to be recovered” is a legal term of the 1550s from its participle.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of hoping.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of hoping for something.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses ''bene spērāre''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of apprehending.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|hope]] for; to put one's hopes in.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To hope that, hope to.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''nōn spērō'', I hope not.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To have hopes, ''bene spērāre'', to be hopeful.^(OLD 2012)

+ # To expect, apprehend.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dēspērō]]

+ * [[īnspērāns]]

+ * [[īnspērātus]]

+ * [[praespero]]

+ * [[spērābilis]]

+ * [[spērātrix]]

+ * [[superspērō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[prosperus]]

+ * [[spēs]]

+ * [[en|despair]]

+ * [[en|sperate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}