subsisto

Forms

subsistō (present infinitive subsistere, perfect active substitī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from sub- (“under”) and sistō (“to stand, make stand”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨sistō⟩ to Proto-Italic *sista/o- and the reduplicated present Proto-Indo-European *sti-sth₂- (“to make stand”), from the root *steh₂- (“to stand”).^[3][1] Cognate with Umbrian sestu (“I place”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is Plautus' Epidicus: “unless you prop up the ruins firmly, you cannot stand firm”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is first to stand firm under a weight, and in battle to stand firm against an enemy, as in Accius; the jurists use it of standing up to a lawsuit, and Decimus Brutus of meeting an expense.^[2] In Apuleius it is to come to someone's support.^[2]

Its commonest sense is to halt or stop short, as Caesar's men who stopped when warned of hidden ditches, and of things to come to a standstill, of a speaker to break off, as Ovid's “here Erato stopped”, and of activities to be suspended, as Ovid's “when the shouting died down”.^[2][5] In Church Latin it is to withstand, stand, endure, remain, and also to exist or be.^[6] From this sense of existing came English subsist.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of standing firm.^[2][4]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of standing firm in battle.^[2][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of halting.^[2][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of stopping short in speech.^[2][4]
• 1540s – Borrowed into English, partly by way of French, as subsist “to exist”.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stand firm (under a weight, in battle, against an enemy); (law) to defend a suit; to cope with (a burden).^[2][1]
2. To come to the support (of).^[2][1]
3. To halt, stop short; to come to a standstill; to break off (in speaking); to be suspended.^[2][1][5]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To endure, remain; to exist.^[6]

Word family

• subsistentia

Related words

• sistō
• cōnsistō
• English subsist

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com