pessum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛs.sũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛs.sum]^[1]

Forms

pessum (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably the accusative of a u-stem *ped-tu- or *pet-tu- “falling”, from the root Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to fall”) of pēs “foot”, as in a supine.^[2][3][1] Cognate with Sanskrit पद्यते (pádyate, “falls”) and Sanskrit पत्तुम् (páttum, “to fall”).^[2][3] Schrijver explains the double /s/ as avoiding a clash with a word *pēsum “fart”, and Kortlandt proposed *pet-tu-, from the root of Sanskrit पतति (pátati, “flies, falls”), but de Vaan prefers *ped-tum because of pēior “worse”.^[2] Lewis and Short took it from *pedis-versum “towards the feet”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose casket went to the bottom with the ship.^[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to the bottom, down, and figuratively to destruction, in fixed phrases: pessum īre, pessum abīre “to sink, to be ruined”, and pessum dare “to send to the bottom, to destroy”, which was also written as one word, pessumdō.^[3][6] Plautus' net that went to the bottom and Tacitus' pessum īre show the range.^[3][6] Lewis and Short call it mostly ante-classical and post-Augustan.^[4]

In Medieval Latin it kept these senses.^[7] Late medical Latin had an unrelated pessum “pessary”, from Ancient Greek πεσσός (pessós).^[4][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of a casket that went to the bottom.^[3][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^[6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses pessum īre.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. To the bottom, down, pessum īre, to sink, be ruined.^[3]
2. pessum dare, to send to the bottom; to destroy, ruin.^[3]

Related words

• pēior
• pessumdō
• pēs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ 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