Etymologically
Log in

insum

This is an old revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 20:56. It may differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Current version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈĩː.sũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈin.sum][1]

Forms

īnsum (present infinitive inesse, perfect active īnfuī, future active participle īnfutūrus); irregular conjugation, suppletive, no passive, no supine stem except in the future active participle, no gerund[1] The TLL notes that few first- and second-person forms are attested.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin in- (“in”) + sum (“to be”).[3][1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has inerant signa expressa, “there were figures carved on it”, and Plautus ubi inest quidquid volēs, “in which is whatever you want”, of the horn of plenty.[3]

Semantic evolution

Inesse is “to be in or on” a place or object (Plautus: a gold ring inerit under the hat), to be written in a document, and of a feeling to show on the face.[3][4] It is to be contained in a number, to be among (Cicero: paucī tamen bonī inerant, “yet there were a few honest men among them”), and of qualities to be present in a person (Cicero: inerat … ingenium satis ācre, “he had a sharp enough mind”).[3][1] It is also “to be involved in, attached to” (Ennius: magna inest certātiō).[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “to be in or on, belong to”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius: inerant signa expressa.[3][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the horn of plenty.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: inerat … ingenium satis ācre.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be in or on.[3][4][1][5]
  2. To be written in; to show (on the face).[3]
  3. To be contained in, be among, form part of.[3]
  4. To be present in, belong to (of qualities).[3][1][5]
  5. To be involved in, be attached to.[3][1]

References

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