sumptuous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French somptueux, also sumptueux, and directly borrowed from Latin sūmptuōsus (“expensive, lavish, extravagant”).^[2][3] Most other dictionaries name only French,^{[4][5][6][7][8]} and Dictionary.com only Latin.^[9] The Latin adjective is formed from sūmptus (“expense”) and -ōsus.^[2][5] The noun comes from the past participle of sūmō (“to take, spend, consume”),^[7][3][8] a contraction of sub- (“under”) and emō (“to take, buy”),^[3][7] from Proto-Indo-European *em- (“to take, distribute”).^[3] The OED dates the French adjective to 1342, of expenditure, and 1383, of costly things, and compares Spanish suntuoso and Italian sontuoso.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lavish in spending, extravagant, chiefly of a person: before 1425, in the Dialogue of Reason and Adversity.^[2] Barnhart has the Middle English form sumptous about 1410, and the spelling sumptuous in 1472–73;^[10] Etymonline dates the word to the late 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant "expensive"; the idea of luxury is secondary.^[7][11] The early senses all concerned money: a person who spent lavishly (before 1425–1891),^[2] a large outlay (1485–1743),^[2] and, chiefly in Scots, something costly to maintain (1537–1632).^[2][6] From 1458 the word was applied to buildings, meals and clothes that were costly and magnificent,^[2] then from 1472–73 to what was simply splendid.^[2] Word Origins explains the shift by the fact that costly things are often magnificent, dating the new sense to the mid 16th century.^[11] In 1594 it could describe a beautiful sight or natural feature, with no thought of cost.^[2] Johnson (1755) still glossed it "Costly; expensive; splendid".^[12] The OED compares the later variants in -ious with scrumptious.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1425 – of a person, lavish in spending, extravagant (obsolete by 1891).^[2]
• 1458 – of buildings, meals and clothing, costly and magnificent.^[2]
• 1472–73 – lavish, splendid.^[2][10]
• 1485 – of a cost, involving a large outlay (obsolete by 1743).^[2]
• 1537 – chiefly Scots, expensive to keep up (obsolete by 1632).^[2]
• 1550s – sumptuosity, from Late Latin.^[3]
• 1594 – of a sight, splendid in appearance.^[2]
• 1721 – adverb, lavishly (now obsolete).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a size or splendour that suggests great expense; lavish, opulent: The hotel laid on a sumptuous buffet for the wedding.^{[4][13][2][5]}
2. Magnificent or beautiful in appearance: the sumptuous colours of the valley in autumn.^[13][2]
3. Dressed, fed or housed in great luxury.^[5]
4. (obsolete, 1485–1743) Of a cost or charge, involving a large outlay.^[2][6]

Word family

• sumptuously
• sumptuousness
• unsumptuous

Related words

• sumptuary
• assume
• consume
• presume
• resume
• subsume
• example
• redeem
• scrumptious

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins