sustento

Forms

sustentō (present infinitive sustentāre, perfect active sustentāvī, supine sustentātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of sustineō (“to hold up”), formed with -tō.^[2][1] The base is teneō (“to hold”) with the prefix subs- (“up from under”); de Vaan derives ⟨teneō⟩ from Proto-Italic *t(e)nē- (“to hold”) and Proto-Indo-European *tn-eh₁- (“to hold”), a stative of the root *ten- (“to stretch”).^[3] Cognate with Umbrian tenitu (“let him hold”), Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”) and Sanskrit तनोति (tanóti, “stretches”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is the earliest author in the OLD, whose Hegio thanks the gods for freeing him from the miseries he had endured without his son, in the Captivi.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to hold up or support, as Lucilius' head held up by the neck, though Lewis and Short find this literal use only in poetry and post-Augustan prose.^[2][4] More often it is to keep a person, an institution or a state of affairs from failing, as Cicero's trade “kept up by crowds of citizens”, to sustain with comfort, and to provide someone with food or money, as Terence's “he alone keeps the whole household”, or to stave off hunger, as Caesar's troops.^[2][4]

It is also to bear up against hardship, as in Plautus, to keep in check, as Cicero's witness who keeps himself in hand and weighs every word, and to hold up or delay an event.^[2][4][1] Church Latin glosses it “maintain, support, hold up, sustain”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of enduring miseries.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of keeping a household.^[2][6]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of a head held up by the neck.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of sustaining and of restraint.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hold up, support, prop.^[2][4][1][5]
2. To keep from failing, sustain; to comfort; to keep up (an activity).^[2][4][1]
3. To maintain, provide for (with food, money); to stave off (hunger).^[2][1]
4. To bear up against, endure.^[2][1]
5. To hold in check, restrain; to put off, delay.^[2][1]

Word family

• sustentāculum
• sustentātiō
• sustentatus

Related words

• sustineō
• teneō

Usage notes

Döderlein sets ferre, which considers only the burden borne, against tolerāre and patī, which look at the one who bears it.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper