Ordinary Words 7: Spectacles

Okay, I'm cheating a bit here.  This is supposed to be about ordinary words, and the ordinary word for 'spectacles' is 'glasses'.  However, I just love the word 'spectacles'.  It's fun to say, sounds delightfully elegant, and brings to mind a collection of old-fashioned gentlemen wearing tweed and smoking pipes while they read.

However, the word is actually a lot older than that.  'Spectacle', singular, evolved in the fourteenth century with two well-known meanings:  a device to enhance vision, and a organized entertainment event with an element of astonishment.  A century later, the development of spectacles in the two-lensed version led to the coining of the term 'spectacles', plural.  

I think it's significant that the device for enhancing vision has this association with an amazing show or event.  That is probably because I remember the awe and delight I felt when I first put on a pair of glasses.  Everything came clear, from the words in the books I loved to the chalkboard at the front of the classroom.  Plus, they were purple.  I loved those glasses.

Sight really is a miracle.  The beauty of it amazes me every day.