Etymologically
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suscipio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [sʊsˈkɪ.pi.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [suʃˈʃiː.pi.o][1]

Forms

suscipiō (present infinitive suscipere, perfect active suscēpī, supine susceptum); third (-iō variant) conjugation[1] It is also spelled succipiō; some ancient grammarians, such as Caper, used succ- for “catch from below” and susc- for “undertake”.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sub- + capiō (“to take”), with ⟨sus-⟩ for ⟨subs-⟩, “to take up from below”.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces capiō to Proto-Italic *kapi- (“to seize”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has Iovī vōta suscipere, “to undertake vows to Jupiter”.[2] Terence uses it of a father acknowledging a newborn child.[2]

Semantic evolution

In its physical sense suscipere is “to catch from below, hold up”, “to take over” a load, and “to take up, receive”.[2][3] A father suscipit a newborn child when he takes it in his arms and so accepts it into his family instead of exposing it; hence also “to beget” children.[2][1] It means to take a person under one's protection, to assume a role or guise, to take up a matter or an opinion, to take sides (partēs suscipere), and above all “to undertake” a task, a vow, a case or a war, and to face a danger or a liability.[2][3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “take, receive, accept, uphold, undertake, protect, support, lift up”.[5] Döderlein contrasts sūmere, to take something up to use it, with capere, to lay hold of it to possess it.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: Iovī vōta suscipere.[2][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: pollicitus sum susceptūrum, “I promised to acknowledge (the child)”.[2][7]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius: the sun suscēpit lampada mundī, “caught the torch of the world” as Phaethon fell.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero recommends a man to Varro, ut tōtum tē susciperet, “to take you entirely under his care”.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To catch from below, hold up, support.[2][3][1][5]
  2. To take up, receive.[2][1][5]
  3. To acknowledge (a newborn child); to beget.[2][1]
  4. To take under one's protection.[2][5]
  5. To assume (a role); to take up (a cause or opinion); partēs suscipere, to take sides.[2][1]
  6. To undertake (a task, vow, case or war).[2][3][1][5]
  7. To incur, face (a danger or liability).[2][1]

Word family

  • assuscipio
  • insusceptus
  • susceptibilis
  • susceptiō
  • susceptīvus
  • suscepto
  • susceptor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de