Etymologically
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assume

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /əˈsjuːm/, US /əˈsuːm/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English assumen,[2][3] borrowed from Latin assūmere (“to take up, take to oneself, receive”),[2][4][3] from ad- “to, toward” and sūmere “to take”,[2][4][5] itself from sub “under” and emere “to take, buy”,[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *em- (“to take, distribute”).[2] Sūmere also gave consume, presume and resume.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To receive up into heaven, the earliest use in English: 1436 in the OED;[6] to take upon oneself: before 1420 in Barnhart, in Lydgate's Troy Book,[4] the early 15th century in Etymonline.[2]

Semantic evolution

To put on a form, aspect or character is from 1447,[6] and to take on fictitiously, to feign, from about 1600.[2] To adopt or elect to a position is from 1502.[6] The meaning “to suppose, take for granted without proof” is recorded by the 1590s,[2] in the 16th century in Hoad.[7] The early past participle was assumpt, and Middle English also had assumpten “to receive up into heaven”, of the Virgin Mary.[2] Assumption, of the Virgin, is from about 1300.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – Assumption, of the Virgin.[4]
  • 1436 – to receive up into heaven.[6]
  • 1447 – to put on a form or character.[6]
  • 1502 – to adopt to a position.[6]
  • 1590s – to take for granted.[2]
  • c. 1600 – to feign.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To take for granted; to suppose.
  2. To take upon oneself; to undertake the duties of an office.
  3. To take on or adopt: assume a new identity.
  4. To pretend to have; to feign.
  5. To take over, sometimes without right: assume control.

Word family

  • assumable
  • assumably
  • assumer
  • assumability
  • preassume
  • reassume
  • assuming
  • assumption
  • assumptive
  • consume
  • presume
  • resume
  • redeem

Usage notes

In rhetorical use, assume expresses what the speaker postulates, often as an admitted hypothesis, while presume expresses what the speaker really believes.[2]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press