A Special Term

There’s something special about the word “special.” We often use it to describe things we love, such as memories, gifts, foods, crafts, people, and locations.

 The word is related to “species” in that refers to something “individual, particular,” the meaning of the origin Latin word, speciālis. 

 

They both also relate to the Latin verb, speculārī, “to spy out, watch, examine, observe, and spect-āre, “to look at.” The Latin word evolved into a now out-of-use English word, “spect,” which was used in 16^th century descriptions of navigation, meaning “to look or face in a specified direction.”

That’s where we get the words “expect,” “speculate,” and “spectacle,” which means, “a specially prepared or arranged display of a more or less public nature (esp. one on a large scale), forming an impressive or interesting show or entertainment for those viewing it.” The evolution of the “spec” words is a natural one—to look at something is to determine that is particular in itself, individual and distinct. Derivatives of the Latin word were in use in Old French in addition to Middle English, and also some of the Scandinavian languages.