sucumbir

Forms

sucumbir (first-person singular present sucumbo, first-person singular preterite sucumbí, past participle sucumbido)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin succumbō (“to sink down under, give way”).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas considers it surely taken through French succomber, which is recorded from the 14th century and was common in the classical authors of the 17th century,^[2][3] and Bénaben agrees.^[5] The French verb is first recorded in 1376 and began as a legal term.^[6]

The Latin verb is formed sub- and -cumbō,^[7][1] which the DHLF explains as an altered form of cubō (“to lie down”).^[6] The DCECH treats the verb with the other learned words of the same family under incumbir.^[2] The Latin verb also gave Catalan sucumbir, Portuguese sucumbir and Italian soccombere.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the word to about 1800, from examples in Moratín and Quintana, and notes that the Academy had it by 1817.^[2] Boyd-Bowman has earlier records from Lima, from 1791: temíamos sucumbir a las tareas incesantes “we feared succumbing to the endless tasks”.^[9] A writer in Lima noted in 1793 that the verbs sucumbir and sucumbar could be used interchangeably.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's first entry (1817) has only the legal sense, “to lose a lawsuit”, marked as old.^[10] In 1843 it added “to yield, surrender, submit”, and in 1899 “to die, perish”.^[11][12] Domínguez already gave “to fall” and “to die”.^[13] In the DLE the legal sense comes last.^[4] Moliner and Vox describe the death sense as dying in extraordinary circumstances, such as war or a disaster, and also use the verb of the end of empires and institutions.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 1591 – the earliest hit in the CDH, in a text of the Third Provincial Council of Lima; the next hits, up to 1650, are only the people and place name Sucumbíos.^[16]
• 1791 – records from Lima.^[9]
• c. 1800 – Moratín and Quintana, the first records known to Corominas.^[2][3]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary, with the legal sense “to lose a lawsuit”.^[10]
• 1843 – the Academy adds “to yield, surrender, submit”.^[11]
• 1899 – the Academy adds “to die, perish” and gives the etymology.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To yield, give in or surrender (rendirse), often with a or ante: Al final sucumbió a la curiosidad.^[4][14]
2. (intransitive) To die, perish, especially in war or a disaster.^[4][14]
3. (intransitive, law) To lose a lawsuit (pleito).^[4]

Related words

• incumbir
• súcubo
• French succomber
• Latin succumbō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 447
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. incumbir
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. sucumbir
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. sucumbir
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 745
9. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. sucomber
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 818
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 679
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 932
13. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1592
14. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sucumbir
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. sucumbir
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. sucumbir