sustollo

Forms

sustollō (present infinitive sustollere); third conjugation, no perfect or supine stems^[1] It has no perfect or supine of its own in use: the forms ⟨sustulī⟩ and ⟨sublātum⟩ serve as the perfect and supine of tollō, and the OLD files all their examples there.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin subs- (“up from under”) + tollō (“to lift”), with the form ⟨subs-⟩ of the prefix sub-.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces the simple verb to the present Proto-Italic *tolna/o- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *tl-n(e)-h₂- (“to carry”).^[4] Cognate with Old Irish tlenaid (“to lift, take away”) and Ancient Greek ἔτλην (étlēn, “endured”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first examples are in Plautus,^[2][5] whose Cistellaria has amiculum hoc sustolle, “lift up this cloak”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to raise on high.^[2][6] In Plautus a character says that a soldier, if he knew, would lift this whole house up and the man onto the cross,^[2] and another remarks that Greek columns are usually raised up, which Lewis and Short take to mean set on a high pedestal.^[3] Catullus has white sails hoisted by twisted ropes, Lucretius a machine that lifts great weights with a light effort, and Ovid a face raised grimly to the sky.^[2] Seneca uses it of someone who takes the burdens of adversity on a stiff neck.^[6] Plautus also uses it of snatching a person away, the master's daughter carried off from the racecourse.^[2][6]

Lewis and Short call the verb ante- and post-classical.^[3] In late writers it means to build, in the Theodosian Code, and to take away or abolish: Arnobius uses it of removal from a place and Lactantius of abolishing a census.^[3][6][7] Ecclesiastical Latin kept the senses of raising, building and removing.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of lifting a cloak and of carrying off a girl.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a machine that lifts heavy weights.^[2][5]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of hoisting sails.^[2][5]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of abolishing a census.^[6][7][5]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it of erecting a new building.^[3][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To raise on high, lift up; to hoist.^[2][6]
2. To snatch away, kidnap (a person).^[2][6]
3. (Late Latin) To build, erect.^[3][8]
4. (Late Latin) To take away, remove; to abolish.^[3][6][7]

Related words

• extollo

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson