speculum

English

Etymology

From Latin speculum (“mirror”), from specere (“to see; to look at”) + -ulum (“forming tools of performing a verb”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɛkjʊləm/
• enPR: spĕkʹyə-ləm, IPA^(key): /ˈspɛkjələm/

Noun

speculum (plural speculums or specula)

1. (medicine) A medical instrument used during an examination to dilate an orifice.
2. A mirror, especially one used in a telescope.
3. (ornithology) A bright, lustrous patch of colour found on the wings of ducks and some other birds, usually situated on the distal portions of the secondary quills, and much more brilliant in the adult male than in the female.
4. A lookout place.

Translations

medical instrument

• Catalan: espècul (ca) m
• French: spéculum (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: spegill (is) m, slanga (is) f
• Spanish: espéculo m

patch of colour found on the wings of ducks and some other birds

• German: Flügelspiegel m
• Japanese: 翼鏡 (よくきょう, yokukyō)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Low German: Flunkenspegel m
• Swedish: vingspegel c

Anagrams

• muscle up, muscle-up

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Latin

Alternative forms

• speclum (Vulgar or Late Latin, Appendix Probi)

Etymology

From speciō +‎ -culum. Confer with spectrum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈspe.ku.lum/, [ˈs̠pɛkʊɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈspe.ku.lum/, [ˈspɛːkulum]

Noun

speculum n (genitive speculī); second declension

1. a looking-glass, mirror

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	speculum	specula
Genitive	speculī	speculōrum
Dative	speculō	speculīs
Accusative	speculum	specula
Ablative	speculō	speculīs
Vocative	speculum	specula

Related terms

• speculor

Descendants

• Asturian: espeyu
• Catalan: espill, espècul
• Danish: spejl n
• Dutch: spiegel
• English: speculum
• Esperanto: spegulo
• Galician: espello
• German: Spiegel
• Friulian: spieli
• Icelandic: spegill
• Irish: spéacla
• Italian: specchio, specolo
• Limburgish: spegel

• Norwegian Nynorsk: spegel
• Norwegian Bokmål: speil n
• Old Norse: spegill
• Portuguese: espelho, espéculo
• Romanian: specul
• Romansch: spievel, spieghel, spejel
• Sardinian: ipíciu, ispégiu, ispígiu, isprecu, ispregu, ispricu, sprigu
• Sicilian: specchiu
• Spanish: espejo, espéculo
• Swedish: spegel c
• Venetian: specio

References

• “speculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “speculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• speculum 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)
• speculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “speculum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “speculum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin