supersto

Forms

superstō (present infinitive superstāre, perfect active superstetī); first conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin super- (“over, above”) + stō (“to stand”).^[2][1] stō goes back to Proto-Italic *sta-ē-je/o- (“to stand, be standing”) and Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-eh₁-ie/o- (“to stand”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is from Sallust, who writes of men who had been standing on scaling ladders and were dashed down when the ladders broke.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Livy uses it often, of men standing on a heap of the slain, on a hill or on rocks, of a mound that collapsed under the weight of those standing on it, and of statues standing on columns.^[2][4][5] Suetonius has it of an altar standing on top of a marble base.^[2]

The poets use it of standing over someone who lies on the ground: Virgil of standing over a fallen man to kill him, and Statius of a lioness standing over her cubs.^[2][5] It takes the dative, the ablative or, in this sense, the accusative.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of men standing on ladders.^[2]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it transitively, of standing over a fallen man.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of men on heaps of corpses, hills and rocks.^[2][4]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of a lioness standing over her cubs.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stand on top of something, stand upon.^[2][4][5]
2. To stand over someone lying on the ground.^[2][6]

Related words

• superstes
• superstitiō
• stō

Usage notes

Lewis and Short think it was perhaps not used before Augustus,^[4] but the OLD cites it from Sallust.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.