Etymologically
Log in

assumere

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 20:16. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /asˈsu.me.re/[1]

Forms

assumere (first-person singular present assùmo, first-person singular past historic assùnsi, past participle assùnto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin adsūmere (“to take to oneself”), from sūmō (“to take”) with the prefix ad- (“to, towards”).[2][3][4][1] The same learned word is French assumer, borrowed in the 15th century, Spanish asumir (1528), Catalan assumir (1529) and Portuguese assumir.[5][3][6]

Latin sūmō is emō (“to take; buy”) with a prefix sus- (“under”), a form of sub-: Festus records an old perfect ⟨surēmī⟩ for ⟨sūmpsī⟩.[3][5][7] emō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take”).[7]

The participle assunto, the noun assunzione and Assunta come from the Latin participle assumptus and noun assumptiō;[2][3][6] The Latin noun was first a term of rhetoric in Cicero, then the Church's word for the Ascension of Christ and, from the 9th century, for the taking up of the Virgin into heaven.[2][3][6] The LEI explains the senses “raise to heaven”, “raise to a dignity” and “assume as a hypothesis” as matching those of the noun.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Dante's Commedia (before 1321), with the senses “to take upon oneself” and “to raise to a dignity or to heaven”: in Paradiso 32 quel contemplante / libero officio di dottore assunse, “that contemplative freely took on the office of teacher”.[2][8][9]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century the verb also meant to take something as one's own, as in the vernacular Saint Jerome, and assumere carne was to become incarnate.[6] Later senses came from administration and science: “to receive, take” (from 1643), “to examine witnesses or evidence” in law (from 1863), and “to take something into the body”, such as food or a medicine (1970).[6]

The sense “to take on an employee” is the most recent: DELI and the LEI first find it in the Accademia dictionary of 1941, and the noun assunzione took the same sense at the same time.[2][6] The noun assunto, what is to be proved, is dated 1497 (Machiavelli).[2]

Timeline

  • Before 1321 – Dante uses assumere.[2][8]
  • 1354 – Passavanti uses assunzione for the Assumption of the Virgin.[2]
  • 1497 – Machiavelli uses assunto for a thesis to be proved.[2]
  • 1550 – Vasari uses Assunta for the Virgin taken up into heaven.[2]
  • 1941 – the Accademia dictionary records the sense “to hire”.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To take upon oneself, to undertake a duty or responsibility; also pronominal, assumersi: Si è assunto la responsabilità dell'errore.[4][10][11]
  2. To acquire or take on a quality, name or title: Dopo il matrimonio ha assunto il cognome del marito.[4][10]
  3. To adopt an attitude or position: assumere un tono severo.[4][10][11]
  4. To take on an appearance or character: Il cielo assunse un colore violaceo.[10][11]
  5. To obtain, seek out: assumere informazioni.[4][10]
  6. To hire, to take on as an employee: L'azienda assumerà venti operai.[4][10][11]
  7. To take into the body, to consume food or a medicine: assumere il farmaco dopo i pasti.[4][10]
  8. To take as a standard; to assume as a hypothesis: Assumiamo che il dato sia corretto.[4][10][11]
  9. (law) To admit evidence or testimony.[4][6]
  10. (literary) To raise to heaven or to a dignity: essere assunto al trono.[4][10]

Word family

  • assunto
  • assunzione
  • Assunta
  • assuntore
  • assumibile
  • riassumere

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 336
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 3, 1893
  7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  11. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse