English edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

speculator (plural speculators)

  1. One who speculates; an observer; a contemplator.
    • c. 1683, Thomas Browne, Certain Miscellany Tracts:
      a bold and paradoxical speculator
  2. 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.
  3. (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.
  4. (rugby) Synonym of field goal

Related terms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

Anagrams edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From speculor (to watch, to observe) +‎ -tor (-er: forming agent nouns), from specula (watchtower), from speciō (to watch, to observe). Doublet of spectator.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

speculātor m (genitive speculātōris, feminine speculātrīx); third declension

  1. spy, scout
    1. a particular scout of the Imperial legion’s commander or of a province’s governor also competent to carry out executions
  2. explorer, investigator

Declension edit

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 edit

Verb edit

speculātor

  1. second/third-person singular future active imperative of speculor

References edit

  • 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 edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French spéculateur. Equivalent to specula +‎ -tor.

Noun edit

speculator m (uncountable)

  1. speculator

Declension edit