desumo

Forms

dēsūmō (present infinitive dēsūmere, perfect active dēsūmpsī, supine dēsūmptum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“from”) + sūmō (“to take”).^[2][1][3] The verb sūmō is a compound of sub- and emō (“to take”),^[1] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Horace on,^[3][5] who writes of ingenium, sibi quod vacuās dēsūmpsit Athēnās, “a talent that has chosen quiet Athens for itself”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

L&S notes that the word is rare and perhaps not earlier than Augustus.^[7] It meant to pick something out for oneself, often a task: in Livy the tribunes each take one of the consuls to keep watch on.^[3][6] Livy also uses it of choosing an enemy, Suetonius of taking on the repair of the Via Flaminia, Tacitus of eloquence seeking out harder fights, and Pliny the Younger of islands that seem to hold a race among themselves.^[7][3][6] The TLL also records the sense “to snatch away, destroy” on curse tablets.^[3]

Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for “select, choose”.^[8] In medieval Latin it could also mean to take away or to replace.^[9]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of choosing Athens to live in.^[3][5]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of taking on a task and of choosing an enemy.^[3][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of undertaking a road repair.^[6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of eloquence picking its fights.^[7][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a word taken from elsewhere.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To choose or pick out (for a purpose or task), select.^[2][7]
2. To take upon oneself, undertake; to pick (a fight).^[2][7][6]
3. (curse tablets) To snatch away, destroy.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) To take away; to replace.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften