consummatus

Forms

cōnsummātus (feminine cōnsummāta, neuter cōnsummātum); first/second-declension adjective; superlative cōnsummātissimus^[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle of cōnsummō (“to sum up, complete”), used as an adjective.^[1][2][3] That verb is a compound of con- and summa (“sum, total”), from summus (“highest”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *sup(a)mo- and Proto-Indo-European *(h1)up-m(H)o- (“highest”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates the adjective from Seneca,^[3] who in On Benefits has a father say that he gave his son life, but the son gave him a complete and perfect one: ego tibi vitam dedi consummatam, perfectam.^[1]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means lacking nothing, complete or perfect,^[1] and of persons endowed with perfection, consummate, as Martial's consummati Catonis.^[1] In medieval Latin it keeps the sense completed, perfect, mature, and Köbler records it in Albertus Magnus.^[3]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of a complete and perfect life.^[1][3]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of a consummate Cato.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Lacking nothing, complete, perfect.^[1][3]
2. Of persons: consummate, perfect.^[1]

Related words

• cōnsummō
• summa
• summus
• English consummate

Usage notes

The OLD also lists it in the verbal senses of cōnsummō, completed, summed up.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill