assomption

Forms

assomption f (plural assomptions)^[1] Old French asumpciun (1119) and asumption (late 12th or early 13th century); Middle French assumpcion and absumpcion; the spelling assomption dates from 1680.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin assūmptiō (“taking up, adding, adoption”), a derivative of assūmō (“to take up, take to oneself”), which gave assumer.^[2][7][8] Latin used the noun to render Ancient Greek πρόληψις (prólēpsis) in logic, for the minor premise of a syllogism; in Christian Latin it named the Ascension of Christ, after the sense the verb had taken in the Church, the Father “taking up” the Son, and then the Virgin, to himself.^[2] The FEW treats it under the Latin noun.^[9][5]

Cognate with Old Occitan assomptio, Spanish asunción and Italian assunzione.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1119 as asumpciun, for the Ascension of Christ.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

When ascension took over that sense, the word came to name, like Medieval Latin assumptio (about 1200, asumption), the miraculous taking up of the Virgin into heaven, and by metonymy the feast that commemorates it.^[2][8] Rutebeuf counts it in the 13th century among the joys of the Virgin.^[10] The Assumption was proclaimed a dogma of the Catholic Church on 1 November 1950; the feast falls on 15 August.^[11][12] The word also names a painting of the scene.^[8][12] From the religious sense, through the Congrégation de l'Assomption (founded 1847), comes assomptionniste (1900).^[2]

The logical sense of the Latin, the minor premise of a syllogism, was borrowed again in the 16th century (Ramus, 1576).^[2][8] In 1801, in a commentary on Kant, it took the philosophical sense “hypothesis”, and in learned use it became again, as in Latin, the noun of the verb assumer, “the act of taking on”: the existentialists used it for the lucid acceptance of what one is.^[2][11] The TLFi also records a figurative sense, any elevation of the mind or soul.^[11]

Timeline

• 1119 – Asumpciun is first recorded, of the Ascension of Christ.^[2][3]
• c. 1200 – Asumption names the Assumption of the Virgin.^[2][3]
• 13th century – Rutebeuf uses asompsions of the Virgin.^[10]
• 1576 – Ramus uses it in logic for the minor premise.^[8][2]
• 1680 – The spelling assomption appears.^[3][4]
• 1801 – The sense “hypothesis” appears in a commentary on Kant.^[2]
• 1900 – The derivative assomptionniste is recorded.^[2]
• 1950 – The Assumption is proclaimed a dogma of the Catholic Church.^[11][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Catholicism) The miraculous taking up of the Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven; usually capitalised.^[4][11][8]
2. L'Assomption: the feast of the Assumption, 15 August.^[4][8][10]
3. A painting or other work of art showing the Assumption.^[8][12]
4. (figurative) Any elevation of the mind or soul.^[11]
5. (philosophy) The act of assuming, of taking something on with all it implies;^[11][4] l'assomption d'un risque.^[11][4]
6. (logic) The act of taking a proposition as a hypothesis, or the proposition so admitted; the minor premise of a syllogism.^{[11][4][8][12]}

Word family

• assomptionniste

Related words

• assumer
• assomptif
• ascension
• Latin assūmptiō

Usage notes

In the religious senses the word is written with a capital: l'Assomption.^[8][12]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
6. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 588a
10. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
12. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)