Summary
Respect "Respect and respite are ultimately the same word. Both go back to respectus, the past participle of Latin respicere look back at, hence look at, regard, consider. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- back and specere look (source of English spectacle, speculate, etc). Respectus passed into English, perhaps via Old French respect, as respect, in the sense regard, relation (as in with respect to); the key modern meaning deference, esteem developed towards the end of the 16t...