assumptio

Forms

assūmptiō f (genitive assūmptiōnis); third declension^[1] Also spelled adsūmptiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin assūmō (“to take up, adopt”) + -tiō.^[2][4] That verb is a compound of ad- and sūmō (“to take”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero (81–43 BC) is the first to use it.^[2][5] In the De finibus it is the choosing or adoption of something worth having for its own sake, and in his rhetorical and logical works it is the minor premise of a syllogism.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In rhetoric it was also the bringing in of a point, especially of an argument from outside the case.^[2] The jurists used it of a false claim to an origin or a name,^[2][7] and Palladius of the taking up of cultivation.^[3][7] In the Vulgate it is the taking up of Christ into heaven and, in Romans 11:15, a receiving,^[3] and Christian writers used it of God's taking on human nature.^[7]

In Medieval Latin it named above all the Assumption of the Virgin and its feast,^[8][9] and also eating or receiving the Eucharist, acquisition, the addition of something, and election or promotion to an office.^[9][10] English borrowed it about 1300 for the Assumption of the Virgin, partly through Old French; the logical sense “minor premise” followed in the late 14th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in philosophy, rhetoric and logic.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of Christ's being taken up.^[3][5]
• end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Palladius uses it in his work on farming.^[3][7][5]
• c. 1300 – English assumption, of the Virgin's reception into heaven.^[4]
• late 14th century – English uses it for the minor premise of a syllogism.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The taking up or adoption of something.^[2][3]
2. (law) A claim to something, especially a false one.^[2][7][6]
3. (rhetoric) The bringing in of a point, especially of an outside argument.^[2]
4. (logic) The minor premise of a syllogism.^[2][3][6]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A taking up into heaven; a receiving.^[3][11]
6. (Medieval Latin) The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and its feast.^[8][9]
7. (Medieval Latin) Election or promotion to an office.^[9][10]

Related words

• English assumption

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson