absens

Forms

absēns (genitive absentis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2] The spelling apsens is also found.^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin absum (“to be away”).^[1][3][2] The verb is ab- with sum (“to be”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *es- (“to be”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”).^[2] Cognate with Oscan súm (“I am”) and Umbrian est (“is”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[2][4] who in the Mercator has a character call absent gods to witness.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It means not present in person, absent, and so in one's absence, often coupled with praesens; it is used especially of accused persons tried in their absence and of candidates standing for office while away.^[1] It also means absent in mind, and, with emphasis, though absent or without meeting the other party, as in Plautus.^[1] Of things it means elsewhere or non-existent, as Horace's countryman who praises the distant town.^[1] Tertullian and later Christian writers use it very often.^[5] Church Latin keeps the sense absent.^[6] In medieval charters it describes a holding without a tenant.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of absent gods called as witnesses.^[1][2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a man accused in his absence.^[1][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a distant town.^[1][4]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a man absent in mind.^[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not present in person, absent; in one's absence.^[1][3][6]
2. Of accused persons and candidates, absent from the proceedings.^[1]
3. Absent in mind or spirit.^[1]
4. Though absent, without meeting the other party.^[1]
5. Of things, physically elsewhere; non-existent.^[1]
6. (Medieval Latin) Of a holding, without a tenant.^[7]

Related words

• absum
• absentia
• praesēns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill