We consider space semi-discretizations of the 1-d wave equation in a bounded interval with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. We analyze the problem of boundary observability, i.e., the problem of whether the total energy of solutions can be estimated uniformly in terms of the energy concentrated on the boundary as the net-spacing h → 0. We prove that, due to the spurious modes that the numerical scheme introduces at high frequencies, there is no such a uniform bound. We prove however a uniform bound in a subspace of solutions generated by the low frequencies of the discrete system. When h → 0 this finite-dimensional spaces increase and eventually cover the whole space. We thus recover the well-known observability property of the continuous system as the limit of discrete observability estimates as the mesh size tends to zero. We consider both finite-difference and finite-element semi-discretizations.