absumo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [apˈsuː.moː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [abˈsuː.mo]^[1]

Forms

absūmō (present infinitive absūmere, perfect active absūmpsī, supine absūmptum); third conjugation^[1] The perfect is absūmpsī, participle absūmptum (not -msī, -mtum).^[2]

Etymology

It is from ab- “away” and sūmō “to take”.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of squandering money.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Originally “to take away”, it meant to use up, spend, squander, as in Plautus; to consume food, as in Varro; to wear out, exhaust, of worry and disease, as in Terence; of fire to destroy, as in Livy; in the passive to be used up, disappear, as in Virgil; to absorb moisture, as in Seneca; and of a cause of death to carry off, as in Livy.^[3][2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to take away, lessen, destroy, consume.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of squandering.^[3][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of exhaustion.^[3][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of fire and death.^[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To use up, squander, waste.^[3]
2. To consume, devour.^[3]
3. To wear out, exhaust; to destroy.^[3]
4. To absorb.^[3]
5. (of death) To carry off.^[3]

Word family

• absūmēdō
• absūmptiō
• absūmptus

Related words

• sūmō
• cōnsūmō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson