speculator
English
Etymology
From Latin speculātor (“spy, explorer, investigator”), from speculor (“to watch, to observe”) + -tor (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from specula (“watchtower”), from speciō (“to watch, to observe”), q.v. In some senses, an agent noun formed within English from speculate. Doublet of spectator.
Noun
speculator (plural speculators)
- One who speculates; an observer; a contemplator.
- c. 1683, Thomas Browne, Certain Miscellany Tracts
- a bold and paradoxical speculator
- c. 1683, Thomas Browne, Certain Miscellany Tracts
- One who forms theories; a theorist.
- 1666, Joseph Glanvill, Philosophical Considerations concerning Witches and Witchcraft:
- […] in things of Fact, the People are as much to be believed, as the most subtle Philosophers and Speculators, since here sense is the Judge.
- 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second:
- For, in the earlier part of the seventeenth century, a speculator who had dared to affirm that the human soul is by its nature mortal, and does, in the great majority of cases, actually die with the body, would have been burned alive in Smithfield.
-
- (business, finance) One who speculates; as in investing, one who is willing to take volatile risks upon invested principal for the potential of substantial returns.
- (rugby) Synonym of field goal
Related terms
- speculate
- speculation
- speculative
- speculatrix
Translations
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See also
- entrepreneur
- gambler
- punter
Anagrams
- copulaters, outparcels, outplacers, peculators
Latin
Etymology
From speculor (“to watch, to observe”) + -tor (“-er: forming agent nouns”), from specula (“watchtower”), from speciō (“to watch, to observe”). Doublet of spectator.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /spe.kuˈlaː.tor/, [s̠pɛkʊˈɫ̪äːt̪ɔr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /spe.kuˈla.tor/, [spekuˈläːt̪or]
Noun
speculātor m (genitive speculātōris, feminine speculātrīx); third declension
- spy, scout
- a particular scout of the Imperial legion’s commander or of a province’s governor also competent to carry out executions
- explorer, investigator
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | speculātor | speculātōrēs |
Genitive | speculātōris | speculātōrum |
Dative | speculātōrī | speculātōribus |
Accusative | speculātōrem | speculātōrēs |
Ablative | speculātōre | speculātōribus |
Vocative | speculātor | speculātōrēs |
Descendants
- → Catalan: especulador
- → English: speculator
- → French: spéculateur
- → Byzantine Greek: σπεκουλάτωρ (spekoulátōr)
- → Aramaic::
- Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: אספקלטור (/*ʾespuqlāṭōr/)
- Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܐܣܦܩܘܠܛܘܪ (/*ʾespuqlāṭōr/)
- Classical Syriac: ܐܷܣܦܽܘܩܠܴܛܪܐ (ʾespuqlāṭrā)
- Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אִסְפַּקְלָטוֺרָא (ʾispaqlāṭōrā)
- → Aramaic::
- → Gothic: 𐍃𐍀𐌰𐌹𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐍄𐌿𐍂 (spaikulatur)
- → Italian: speculatore
- → Portuguese: especulador
- → Romanian: speculator
- → Spanish: especulador
Verb
speculātor
- second/third-person singular future active imperative of speculor
References
- “speculator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “speculator”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- speculator in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- speculator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- “speculator”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French spéculateur. Equivalent to specula + -tor.
Noun
speculator m (uncountable)
- speculator
Declension
singular | ||
---|---|---|
m gender | indefinite articulation | definite articulation |
nominative/accusative | (un) speculator | speculatorul |
genitive/dative | (unui) speculator | speculatorului |
vocative | speculatorule |