spek- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

Appendix I

Indo-European Roots

ENTRY:	spek-
DEFINITION:	To observe. Oldest form spe-, becoming spek- in centum languages. Derivatives include espionage, spectrum, despise, suspect, despicable, bishop, and telescope. I. Basic form spek-. 1a.* espy, spy, from Old French espier, to watch; b. espionage, from Old Italian spione, spy, from Germanic derivative speh-n-, watcher. Both a and b from Germanic spehn. 2. Suffixed form spek-yo-. specimen, spectacle, spectrum, speculate, speculum, spice; aspect, circumspect, conspicuous, despise, expect, frontispiece, inspect, introspect, perspective, perspicacious, prospect, respect, respite, retrospect, spiegeleisen, suspect, transpicuous, from Latin specere,* to look at. 3. species, specious; especial, from Latin specis, a seeing, sight, form. 4. Suffixed form spek-s, “he who sees,” in Latin compounds. a. Latin haruspex* (see gher-); b. Latin auspex (see awi-). 5. Suffixed form spek--. despicable, from Latin (denominative) dspicr,* to despise, look down on (d-, down; see de-). 6. Suffixed metathetical form skep-yo-. skeptic, from Greek skeptesthai,* to examine, consider. II. Extended o-grade form spoko-. scope, –scope, –scopy; bishop, episcopal, horoscope, telescope, from metathesized Greek skopos,* one who watches, also object of attention, goal, and its denominative skopein (< skop-eyo-), to see. (Pokorny spe-* 984.)


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.