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Origin and history of suspicion

suspicion(n.)

c. 1300, suspecioun, "act of suspecting; unverified conjecture of wrongdoing; mistrust, distrust with but slight proof; feeling or passion excited by signs of danger," from Anglo-French suspecioun, corresponding to Old French suspicion, sospeçon "mistrust, suspicion" (Modern French soupçon) and directly from Late Latin suspectionem (nominative suspectio) "mistrust, suspicion, fear, awe," noun of state from past-participle stem of Latin suspicere "look up at" (see suspect (adj.)).

The spelling in English was influenced 14c. by learned Old French forms closer to Latin suspicionem (compare soupcon).

It is attested by late 14c. as "a suspicious notion," by c. 1400 as "imagination of something as possible or likely." As a verb meaning "to suspect," it figures in literary representations of U.S. Western (Kentucky) slang from 1830s. Middle English and early Modern English also had suspection.

"Suspicion" words in other Indo-European languages also tend to be words for "think" or "look" with prefixes meaning "under, behind;" such as Greek hypopsia (from hypo "under" + opsis "sight"), hyponoia (noein "to think"); Lettish aizduomas (aiz "behind" + duomat "think"); Russian podozrenie (Slavic podu "under," Old Church Slavonic zireti "see, look"); Dutch achterdocht (achter "behind" + denken "to think").

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to suspicion

soupcon(n.)

"a slight trace or suggestion," 1766 (Walpole), from French soupçon "a suspicion," from Old French sospeçon "suspicion, worry, anxiety" (12c.), from Late Latin suspectionem (see suspicion).

suspect(adj.)

early 14c., "suspected of wrongdoing, under or open to suspicion; of dubious or bad character;" mid-14c., "regarded with mistrust, liable to arouse suspicion," from Old French suspect (14c.) and directly from Latin suspectus "suspected, regarded with suspicion or mistrust." This is the past participle of suspicere "look up at, look upward," figuratively "look up to, admire, respect;" also "look at secretly, look askance at," hence, figuratively, "mistrust, regard with suspicion." It is from an assimilated form of sub "up to" (see sub-) + specere "to look at" (from PIE root *spek- "to observe").

The notion seems to be "look at secretly," hence, "look at distrustfully." Related: Suspectly.

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intuition
mid-15c., intuicioun, "insight, direct or immediate cognition, spiritual perception," originally theological, from Late Latin intuitionem (nominative intuitio) "a looking at, consideration," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin intueri "look at, consider," from in- "
suspicious
mid-14c., suspecious, "deserving of or exciting suspicion, open to doubt," from Anglo-French suspecious, Old French sospecious...(Modern French suspectieux), from Latin suspiciosus, suspitiosus "exciting suspicion, causing mistrust," also "full of suspicion...The meaning "full of suspicion, inclined to suspect or believe ill" in English is attested from late 14c....available words include suspicable "liable to suspect; that may be suspected" (1610s); suspicional "of or pertaining to suspicion...
blacklist
also black-list, "list of persons who have incurred suspicion, earned punishment, or are for any reason deemed objectionable...
intermediary
Intermediary, n., is, even with concrete sense of go-between or middleman or mediator, a word that should be viewed with suspicion...
runcible
As for Lear's inspiration for the word, suspicion falls on runcival, a contemporary variant of the old word rounceval "something...
umbrage
.; the one remaining, "suspicion that one has been slighted," is recorded by 1610s; hence phrase to take umbrage at, attested...
forego
from the context that Othello means Cassio actually has been in bed with Desdemona before he allegedly dreamed it (the suspicion...
opinion
early 14c., opinioun, "a judgment formed or a conclusion reached, especially one based on evidence that does not produce knowledge or certainty," from Old French opinion "opinion, view, judgements founded upon probabilities" (12c.), from Latin opinionem (nominative opinio) "opini
doubt
c. 1200, douten, duten, "to dread, fear, be afraid" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French doter "doubt, be doubtful; be afraid," from Latin dubitare "to doubt, question, hesitate, waver in opinion" (related to dubius "uncertain"), from duo "two" (from PIE root *dwo- "two"), wit
earth
Old English eorþe "ground, soil, dirt, dry land; country, district," also used (along with middangeard) for "the (material) world, the abode of man" (as opposed to the heavens or the underworld), from Proto-Germanic *ertho (source also of Old Frisian erthe "earth," Old Saxon erth

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