resume

The verb resume and the noun résumé, a summary, both go back to Latin resūmere, to take up again, but the noun was borrowed separately from French in the 19th century.^[1][2][3]

resume¹ begin again

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈzjuːm/, US /rɪˈzuːm/^[4]

Etymology

It is Middle English resumen, borrowed from Middle French resumer and directly Latin resūmere (“to take again, take up again”),^[1][2][5] from re-, again, and sūmere, to take (see assume),^[1][6] from sus-, up from under, and emere, to take, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *em- (“to take, distribute”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take back, repossess goods or money: 1404 in Barnhart, about 1400 in Etymonline.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

To take to oneself anew, as courage or hope, is from 1412–20,^[7] and to renew from before 1420.^[1] To begin again or continue after an interruption is from about 1440–50,^[7][1] and to go on with a discourse from 1600.^[7] To re-occupy a seat or place is from 1633,^[7] and the intransitive sense, to proceed after an interruption, from 1802.^[2] In obsolete Scots it meant to repeat, to give a summary of.^[8] Collins marks the sense to summarize archaic.^[9]

Timeline

• 1404 – to take back.^[1]
• 1412–20 – to regain courage or hope.^[7]
• c. 1450 – to begin again.^[1]
• 1633 – to re-occupy a seat.^[7]
• 1802 – to proceed after interruption.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To begin again or go on with something after an interruption.
2. To take or occupy again: to resume one's seat.
3. To take on again, as a title or office.

Word family

• resumable
• resumption

resume² summary

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈrez.juː.meɪ/, US /ˈrez.ʊ.meɪ/^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French résumé, the noun use of the past participle of résumer, to sum up,^[1][2][5] from Middle French resumer, originally to take back, from Latin resūmere.^[1][2] Barnhart suggests that the French meaning was influenced by Old French sommer, to find the sum of (see sum).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A summary, recapitulation: 1782 in MWU,^[5] 1804 in Barnhart and Etymonline.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

A biographical summary of a person's career is from the 1940s in Etymonline and before 1960 in Barnhart.^[2][1] In American and Canadian English it is the usual word for a curriculum vitae.^[9]

Timeline

• 1782 – a summary.^[5]
• 1940s – a summary of one's career.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A short account of one's qualifications and work experience, as given with a job application, called in British English a curriculum vitae.
2. A brief summary.

Related words

• assume
• consume
• presume
• redeem
• sum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins