adsum

Forms

adsum (present infinitive adesse, perfect active adfuī, future active participle adfutūrus); irregular conjugation, suppletive, no passive, no supine stem except in the future active participle, no gerund^[1] It is also spelled assum, with the perfect affuī.^[2][3] Inscriptions have atesse, atsint and arfuise;^[2] Plautus and inscriptions use the old subjunctive adsiēs, adsient.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ad- + sum, “to be at”.^[2][3][1] The verb “to be” continues Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”).^[4] Oscan has the same compound in the future perfect adfust.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on: nunc amō, quia nōn adest, “I love her now because she is not here”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Adesse is “to be present, be here”: answering a call, adsum means “here I am”, and the imperative ades “stay, don't go”.^[2] It is used of being present as a witness or spectator, of attending a meeting, taking part, and appearing in court when summoned; of persons who have arrived (“to have come”), of a time or opportunity that has come, and of what is near or imminent.^[2]

With the dative it means “to stand by, help”: of friends, of an advocate supporting someone in court, and of gods favourable to a prayer (adsīs, ō Tegeaee, favēns).^[2] Adesse animō is “to pay attention” or “to keep one's wits”.^[2] In Church Latin it also means “be mindful”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – First found in Plautus.^[2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius: vīsus Homērus adesse poēta, “the poet Homer seemed to be present”.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an advocate supporting a client.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: adsīs, ō Tegeaee, favēns, “be with us, Tegean god, in favour”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be present, be here;^[2][7] adsum, here I am.^[2]
2. To be still here, stay.^[2]
3. To be present (as a witness or spectator);^[2] to attend (a meeting), take part.^[2]
4. To appear (in answer to a summons).^[2]
5. To have come, have arrived;^[2][1] (of time) to have come.^[2]
6. To stand by, assist, support;^[2][1] (law) to appear as advocate (for).^[2]
7. (of gods) To be at hand with help; to look favourably on.^[2]
8. To be near, be at hand;^[2] (of time, events) to be imminent.^[2]
9. To exist, be present (of qualities);^[2] to be present to the mind.^[2]
10. To pay attention;^[2] adesse animō, to attend; to keep one's wits.^[2]

Related words

• sum
• absum
• praesum

Usage notes

In Plautus' Poenulus adsum must be pronounced assum, because the joke turns on assum “roasted”.^[7]

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 r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press