Etymology

frontispiece

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Today it means: An illustration that is on the page before the title page of a book, a section of one, or a magazine. Full definition →

Middle French frontispice ← Italian frontespizio ← Medieval Latin frontispicium
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The story

  1. Medieval Latin · derived fromfrontispicium
  2. Italian · derived fromfrontespizio
  3. Middle French · borrowed fromfrontispice
  4. English todayfrontispiece

From Middle French frontispice, from Italian frontespizio or Medieval Latin frontispicium, from Latin frōns (“forehead”, oblique stem in front-) + -spic- (“to watch”, combining form of speciō) + -ium. Spelling altered due to folk etymology, influenced by piece.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.