sum

Forms

sum^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sum, from Proto-Germanic *sumaz (“some, someone”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic pronoun is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌼𐍃 (sums), Old Norse sumr, Old Frisian sum, Old Saxon sum and Old High German sum.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen derives it from Proto-Indo-European *smH-o-, the source of Ancient Greek οὐδαμός (oudamós, “none”), and relates it to the ablauting Proto-Germanic *sama(n)- (“same”).^[2] Köbler starts from Proto-Indo-European *semo- (“one, some”), a form of the numeral root Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”),^[4] and Etymonline also traces it to a suffixed form of the same root.^[5] Orel instead compares words for “same, together”, such as Ancient Greek ἅμα (háma, “together”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Épinal Glossary, written at the end of the seventh century or about 700, where sume daeli “in some part” glosses Latin “partim”.^[6][7] The Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century has Gecer dryhten sume hwile “turn, Lord, a little while” over the Latin “Conuertere domine aliquantulum” of Psalm 89.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller order the uses under two heads.^[9] Used as a noun, it means “one” of a number, with a genitive plural: wæs ic ðara monna sum “I was one of the men”.^[9] With the genitive of a numeral it names a man as one of a company: fīftȳna sum in Beowulf is “one of fifteen”, that is, with fourteen others, a construction Klaeber compares with Middle High German selbe zwelfter.^[10] The laws use the same type, syxa sum, for a man who comes with five helpers.^[11] Used as an adjective, sum means “a certain” with a singular noun and “some” with a plural one, and in sume … sume it opposes “some” to “others”.^[9][12] Before a number it means “about”: sum hund “about a hundred”.^[12] In glosses it renders Latin quidam, aliquis and quispiam.^[4]

Etymonline notes that the word had wider use in English than its cognates in the other Germanic languages.^[5] It continued as Middle English som, used both as a pronoun and as an adjective,^[13] now English some.^[5]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. or vii/viii – sume daeli for Latin “partim” in the Épinal Glossary.^[6][7]
• s. ix med. – sume hwile “a little while” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][7]
• 890×897 – in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[14][7]
• s. x/xi – fīftȳna sum “one of fifteen” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[10]
• a1150 – Middle English sumes “of someone” in the Vespasian D. xiv homilies.^[13]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. one, a certain one, someone; with the genitive plural, one of: ðara monna sum “one of the men”.^[9][12]
2. with the genitive of a number, one of so many, with the others: fīftȳna sum “one of fifteen”.^[10][11]
3. in the plural, some;^[12][9] sume … sume some … others.^[12][9]
4. something, a part.^[12][4]

Adjective

1. a certain, some; with a number, about: sum hund “about a hundred”.^[12][15]

Word family

• sumdǣl

Descendants

• Middle English som (→ English some; Scots sum; Scots some)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 491
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 385
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sum
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 610
7. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
9. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 933
10. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. sum
11. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 203
12. ^ a b c d e f g Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 326
13. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
15. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 714