exsupero

Forms

exsuperō (present infinitive exsuperāre, perfect active exsuperāvī, supine exsuperātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelled exuperō.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + superō (“to rise above, overcome”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the OLD's earliest quotation, from Plautus, someone fears that the praise given has outdone his looks.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is to pass beyond, cross or surmount, as in Virgil's “I pass the rich soil of the marshy Helorus”, and to rise above: Pliny the Elder has vines that overtop the elms.^[2] Without an object it is to mount up: Virgil writes that the flames rise up.^[2][3] It is also to exceed in size or amount, as a comet the size of the morning sun in Seneca, and to surpass in excellence or degree, and to outlive.^[2] Cicero's verse has a fate that overcomes even Jupiter, and Lucretius a present pain that gains the upper hand.^[2] Lewis & Short call it mostly poetic and post-Augustan prose, and note the syncopated genitive plural ⟨exsuperantum⟩ in Varro.^[3] Coins from AD 186 honour Jupiter as ⟨exsuperantissimus⟩.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of praise that outdoes one's looks.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of pain gaining the upper hand.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of flames rising up.^[2][5]
• 186 AD – Coins honour Jupiter as exsuperantissimus.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pass beyond, cross, surmount; to rise above, overtop; without an object, to mount up.^[2][3][1]
2. To be greater than, exceed; without an object, to be left over.^[2][1]
3. To surpass, outdo, excel; to outlive.^[2][1][4]
4. To overcome, be too strong for; without an object, to gain the upper hand.^[2][1]

Word family

• exsuperābilis
• exsuperantia
• exsuperātiō
• exsuperatorius

Related words

• superō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften