absum

Forms

absum (present infinitive abesse, perfect active āfuī, future active participle āfutūrus); irregular conjugation, suppletive, no passive, no supine stem except in the future active participle, no gerund^[1] It is also spelled apsum.^[2] Cato has the subjunctive absiet.^[2] The perfect is āfuī, better than abfuī.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ab- + sum (“to be”), “to be away from”.^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the compounds of sum, which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”).^[4] The TLL compares Ancient Greek ἄπειμι (ápeimi).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan lists abesse among the oldest compounds of sum.^[4] Plautus asks quid agat, sī apsīs longius?, “what is he to do if you are farther away?”, and Cato gives distances with it.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Abesse is “to be away, absent” (euphemistically, of exile), of things “to be missing”, and “to stay away from, take no part in”; of advocates it is to fail to support a client.^[2][3] It gives distance in space and time, “to be (so far) away”.^[2] Figuratively it means “to be far removed from” a condition or course of action, as in procul absit “God forbid!”, and nōn multum abest quīn “it is not far from”.^[2][3]

Church Latin uses it for “to be absent, be away”.^[6] Its present participle is absēns “absent”.^[4]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato: nōn minus XV mīlia Aniēn abest, “the Anio is at least fifteen miles away”.^[2][7]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: sī apsīs longius.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of his own exile.^[2][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar gives the distance between Ariovistus' forces and his own: mīlibus passuum quattuor et XX abesse.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be absent, be away; to be missing.^[2][3][1][6]
2. To stay away (from), take no part (in); to fail to support.^[2]
3. To be distant (in space or time).^[2][3][1]
4. To be far removed (from a condition or course of action);^[2] procul absit, God forbid!^[2]
5. nōn multum abest quīn, it is not far from (happening).^[2]

Word family

• absentia
• absentō

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes abesse, absence from a place, from dēesse, absence that leaves something incomplete, “to be wanting”.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper