Origin and history of expatiate

c. 1300, "extent or area; room" (to do something), a shortening of Old French espace "period of time, distance, interval" (12c.), from Latin spatium "room, area, distance, stretch of time," a word of unknown origin (also source of Spanish espacio, Italian spazio).

From early 14c. as "amount or extent of time," and in Middle English the word was largely used of time (space of an hour, etc.). Also from early 14c. as "a place;" it is attested from mid-14c. as "distance, interval between two or more objects;" from late 14c. as "ground, land, territory; extension in three dimensions; distance between two or more points." It is recorded by early 15c. as "size, bulk," also "an assigned position."

Typographical sense of "blank type to separate words in print" is attested from 1670s. The typewriter's space-bar is from 1876, earlier space-key (1860).

The astronomical sense of "stellar depths, immense emptiness between the worlds as a characteristic of the universe" is by 1723, perhaps as early as "Paradise Lost" (1667), but common from 1890s.

In this sense a prolific 20c. compound-breeder, many perhaps modeled on earlier ones in air- : Space age is attested from 1946 in reference to the era of human conquest of space but often rather of commercial products that spun off the effort. Many of these first appear in science fiction and speculative writing: spaceship (1894, "A Journey in Other Worlds," John Jacob Astor); spacecraft (1928, Popular Science); space travel (1931); space station "large artificial satellite used as a base for space exploration" (1936, "Rockets Through Space"); space flight (June 1931, Popular Science, from April in newspapers); spaceman (1942, Thrilling Wonder Stories).

Space race in reference to competition among nations to explore space is attested from 1959. Space shuttle attested by 1970.

Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go straight upwards. [Sir Fred Hoyle, London Observer, 1979]

Space-saving as an adjective is from 1855 (time-and-space-saving is by 1847). Related: space-saver.

"act of expatiating," 1610s, noun of action from expatiate.

word-forming element, in English meaning usually "out of, from," but also "upwards, completely, deprive of, without," and "former;" from Latin ex "out of, out from the interior of a thing" (in opposition to in), "from within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to." This is reconstructed to be from PIE *eghs "out" (source also of Gaulish ex-, Old Irish ess-, Old Church Slavonic izu, Russian iz). In some cases also from Greek cognate ex, ek.

Often reduced to e- before -b-, -d-, -g-, consonantal -i-, -l-, -m-, -n-, -v- (as in elude, emerge, evaporate, etc.).

The sense in Latin naturally tended toward "thoroughly, utterly," and in some English ex- words with no clear connection to the idea of "out of," the element might be purely intensive. Among them are exhort, exhilarate, evident, excruciate, exclaim, exuberant, exaggerate, expiate, expect.

For use of Latin ex- as "(rise) up out of," as preserved in English emerge, emend, the notion is "out from the interior of a thing," in opposition to in-. Hence also in Latin, "in an upward direction," as in effervesce, exult, extol.

PIE *eghs had comparative form *eks-tero and superlative *eks-t(e)r-emo-.