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Origin and history of specter

specter(n.)

also spectre, c. 1600, "frightening ghost, apparition of the dead as they were in life," from French spectre "an image, figure, ghost" (16c.), from Latin spectrum "appearance, vision, apparition" (see spectrum). The figurative sense of "object of dread" is from 1774.

also from c. 1600

Entries linking to specter

spectrum(n.)

1610s, "apparition, phantom, specter," a sense now obsolete, from Latin spectrum (plural spectra) "an appearance, image, apparition, specter," from specere "to look at, view" (from PIE root *spek- "to observe").

The meaning "visible band showing the successive colors, formed from a beam of light passed through a prism" is recorded from 1670s. The word was extended to the entire range of radiation wavelengths (including visible light) by 1888. The figurative sense of "entire range" of any thing is from 1936.

spectre(n.)

chiefly British English spelling of specter (q.v.); for spelling, see -re.

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    ghost
    Old English gast "breath; good or bad spirit, angel, demon; person, man, human being," in Biblical use "soul, spirit, life," from Proto-West Germanic *gaistaz (source also of Old Saxon gest, Old Frisian jest, Middle Dutch gheest, Dutch geest, German Geist "spirit, ghost"). This i
    shade
    Middle English shade, schade, Kentish ssed, "dark image cast by someone or something; comparative obscurity or gloom caused by the blockage of light," from late Old English scead "partial darkness; shelter, protection," also partly from sceadu "shade, shadow, darkness; shady plac
    spook
    1801, "spectre, apparition, ghost;" first attested in a comical dialect poem, credited to "an old Dutch man in Albany" and printed in Vermont and Boston newspapers, which credited it to Springer's Weekly Oracle in New London, Conn. The word is from Dutch spook, from Middle Dutch
    bogey
    .-17c., a dialectal variant of Middle English bugge "a frightening specter" (see bug (n.))....If so, bogey shares ancestry with, and might have arisen from, dialect words for "ghost, specter, the devil," such as bogeyman..."haunting specter, object of fear" (16c.), boggart "specter that haunts a gloomy spot" (c. 1570, in Westmoreland, Lancashire...
    boggle
    1590s, "to start with fright (as a startled horse does), shy, take alarm," from Middle English bugge "specter" (among other...
    fetch
    "apparition of a living person, specter, a double," 1787, an English dialect word of unknown origin (see OED for discussion...
    phantasm
    fantosme "a dream, illusion, fantasy; apparition, ghost, phantom" (12c.), and directly from Latin phantasma "an apparition, specter...
    phantom
    c. 1300, fantum, famtome, "illusion, unreality; an illusion," senses now obsolete, from Old French fantosme (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fantauma, from Latin phantasma "an apparition," from Greek phantasma "image, phantom, apparition; mere image, unreality," from phantazein "to mak
    Hades
    god of the dead in Greek mythology; also the name of his realm, the abode of the dead spirits, 1590s, from Greek Haidēs, in Homer the name of the god of the underworld, son of Kronos and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His name is of unknown origin. Perhaps literally "the inv
    respect
    late 14c., "relationship, relation; regard, consideration" (as in in respect to), from Old French respect and directly from Latin respectus "regard, a looking at," literally "act of looking back (or often) at one," noun use of past participle of respicere "look back at, regard, c

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