Blame it on the speculators. If you "look-up" the word "speculation" in the OED, you will discover a pattern of association of meanings. Spread out there on those facing pages of the dictionary, you will see forty-one words -- Pretend you are looking at my, now old, OED -- beginning with "specificate" and ending with "speculatory." If you turn back a page you will see that all of these "spec" words begin with the word "spece" and if you turn forward a page you will see that they end with the word "speculum". What you will see as you read through those words that begin with those four letters -- spec -- is that they all involve the faculty of sight. "Species" means "appearance, form, kind." The theory of the evolution of the species is speculation.

"Speculation" means "The faculty or power of seeing; sight, vision, esp. intelligent or comprehending vision." It also means "The action or practice of buying and selling goods, stocks and shares, etc., in order to profit by the rise or fall in market value, as distinct from regular trading or investment . . . ." Apparently, speculation can be a risky business.

There is a certain tension in the pattern of meaning that these "spec" words reveal; speculation may be specious, the reasoning fallacious. Apparently, looks can be deceiving and therein lies the risk inherent in speculation. As for the great King Akbar: "He knew that life was not to be trusted, the world was not to be relied upon." Salman Rushdie, The Enchantress of Florence.