Etymologically
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summe

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsʊm.meː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsum.me][1]

Forms

summē [1]

Etymology

It is from Latin summus (“highest”) + -ē.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.[3] Lewis & Short's citations begin with Cicero, of what usually troubles him most in the De oratore and of wanting something greatly in the speech for Quinctius.[4]

Semantic evolution

It means in the highest degree or extremely, with verbs (Cicero, Caesar, Quintilian) and adjectives, as in Cicero's summē iūcundum and Horace's summē mūnītus locus, a place fortified to the utmost.[2][4] Pliny the Younger even pairs it with a superlative.[4] Fronto uses it of doing something superlatively well.[2] Stelten gives “highly, in the highest degree, extremely, very” for Church Latin.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, with verbs and adjectives.[4][3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of a strongly fortified place.[4][3]
  • 100–170 AD – Fronto, “superlatively well”.[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. In the highest degree, extremely, intensely.[2][4][1]
  2. Superlatively well, consummately.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson