English
skeptic
Skeptic comes from Middle French sceptique ‘skeptical’.
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600sceptique‘skeptical’
- Englishearliest quotation 1877skeptic
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600sceptique‘skeptical’
- Englishearliest quotation 1877skeptic
Earliest quotation: 1877, The Lancaster Daily; quoted in Joseph Au, A Miracle in Stone: or The Great Pyramid of Egypt: “This view of the Great Pyramid is being adopted…”
The story
Borrowed from Middle French sceptique (but with a pronunciation closer to that of the Latin etymon), or possibly directly from Late Latin scepticus (originally attested only in the plural Scepticī (‘the sect of Skeptics’)), from Proto-Italic *spektos (‘see, observing’), from *speḱ- (‘to see’), compare to σκοπέω (skopéō, “to view, examine”).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- ‘to see, to look, to observe’
special, respect, despite, species, specific, aspect, perspective, scope, spectrum, inspector, spy, spectacular, spite, inspection, expectation, speculation, suspicion, specify, specimen, spice, inspect, spectacle, spectator, speculate, espionage, speculative, retrospective, retrospect, conspicuous, specter, expectant, spectroscopic, macroscopic, endoscopic, circumspect, specious, speculator, espy, specular, 119 more
Today it means
noun Someone who doubts beliefs, claims, plans, etc. that are accepted by others as true or appropriate, especially one who habitually does so.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle French sceptique / skeptic