Etymologically
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summus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈsʊm.mʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsum.mus][1]

Forms

summus (superlative, feminine summa, neuter summum, comparative superior, adverb summē or summiter); first/second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *sup(a)mo- (“highest”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)up-m(H)o- (“highest”), a superlative of the stem of sub and super.[2][3] Cognate with Umbrian somo (“highest”) and Sanskrit उपम (upamá, “uppermost”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus, and Köbler from Plautus.[2][4] Cato says that the hams on top should be put at the bottom.[3] Köbler places Livius Andronicus before 200 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant highest or topmost, the top of something, as in summus mōns “the top of the mountain”, the surface or outermost layer, the farthest edge, and the last in a sequence.[3][5] At a dinner it was the place furthest left on a couch, as in Horace.[3] Figuratively it meant greatest, supreme or most important, as in summum bonum “the highest good” and summa rēs pūblica “the welfare of the state”.[5]

Döderlein notes that summus means uppermost in a purely local sense, the opposite of īmus.[6] Its feminine summa “the total” gave English sum, and Old French som “top” gave English summit.[7] It survives in Italian sommo.[1]

Timeline

  • before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.[2][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of the hams on top.[3][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of the top place on a couch.[5][4]
  • c. 1300 – English sum is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Highest, topmost; the top of.[3]
  2. The surface of.[3]
  3. The farthest edge of, the tip of.[3]
  4. Last, final.[3]
  5. Greatest, supreme, summum bonum, the highest good.[5]

Word family

  • summa
  • summās
  • summitās
  • summo
  • summotenus
  • sub
  • super
  • English sum
  • English summit

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com