"in special" 'in particular'

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

i came across one of these in a place where i failed to note it
down.  but there are lots to be found (these from a web search on
<"in special those">, e.g.:

1. I'm grateful for my house, in which I feel so comfortable and
safe, for my son, for my friends, in special those from the dance
classes. ...
www.beliefnet.com/prayer/commemoration.asp?
milestoneTypeID=6&pageID=197&milestoneID=2249

2. ... of all the existent information regarding Absolute Gravity
Measurements in South America, in special those performed from 1988
to 1991 by Dr. W. Torge. ...
www.olympus.net/IAPSO/abstracts05/orals/344.html

3. Our services are aimed at clients based in Europe - in special
those based in Spain and in Germany - and also at those based in
Latin America. ...
www.abanet.org/intlaw/internprofiles.html

4. In special those were about 25 cents each which I though was a
very good price since they can fit two DVDs but at regular price they
are more expensive than ...
search.ncix.com/productreviewdetail.php?id=44233

5. Do not pile up wood next to the house. keep places clean, in
special those areas of the house less less habitated.
www.brownreclusespider.org/ brown-recluse-spider-trap.htm

6. However, the process was essential to get the team aware of the
many facets of a GIS, in special those that posed difficulties to the
development of an open ...
libraries.maine.edu/Spatial/gisweb/spatdb/amfm/am94050.html

there are a lot of cites from spanish or portuguese sites, or sites
related to spain or portugal;  these are presumably loan translations
from romance.  but i think that there are still a fair number of others.

OED2 has "in special" 'specially, especially, particularly' as Obs.,
with cites from 1374-1680.  so i'm guessing these occurrences aren't
continuations of this earlier expression.  but "in particular" is
always there, available for extension from "particular" to "special",
of course (on analogy with "particularly" ~ "especially"), so "in
special" is always a possibility for innovation.

but how to tease apart spanish/portuguese influences from internal
innovation?

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)

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