assumir

Forms

assumir (first-person singular present assumo, first-person singular preterite assumi, past participle assumido)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin assūmō (“to take up, take to oneself”), first recorded in 1690.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word.^[5] The Latin verb is formed from ad- and sūmō (“to take”).^[6][1]

Wiktionary analyses the simple verb as sub and emō (“to buy, take”), from Proto-Italic *emō and Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take”).^[1] The same Latin verb is Spanish asumir.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Machado and Houaiss take the first record from Manuel Fernandes's Alma Instruída (1690), in a theological sense: God decreed to come down to the state of creatures and unir ou assumir a si alguma natureza creada “to unite or take on himself a created nature”.^[4][2] A private letter of the same year writes asumir.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1789) defines it as “to take, attribute to oneself, arrogate”.^[9] Vieira records it only as a synonym of consumir in a pharmacopoeia, and notes that the Academy's dictionary lacks it.^[10] The original Caldas Aulete has taking on a serious air, from Rebelo da Silva and Camilo, and taking up a high office or power, from Garrett, and gives the irregular participle assunto beside assumido.^[11]

Modern Portuguese uses it above all for taking on a responsibility or an office, for acknowledging something as one's own, and, reflexively and informally, for coming out as gay or bisexual.^[2][1][12]

Timeline

• 1690 – first record, in the Alma Instruída.^[4][2]
• 1690 – asumir in a private letter.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as “to take, arrogate”.^[9]
• 1858 – Cunha's first date for assumptivo.^[3]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records it as a pharmaceutical synonym of consumir.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To assume, take upon oneself (a charge, a duty, a responsibility).^[2][13][1]
2. To take up (an office or power): assumir a presidência.^[13][11]
3. To take on (an air, an appearance, a form).^[2][13]
4. To come to have, reach: O incêndio assumiu grandes proporções.^[2][13]
5. To acknowledge as one's own (a fault, an act, its consequences).^[1][11][12]
6. (reflexive) To declare oneself, show oneself as;^[2][1][12] (informal) to come out as gay or bisexual.^[2][1][12]
7. (philosophy, mathematics) To suppose, take as true.^[12]
8. (reflexive) To stand up straight.^[2]

Word family

• assumível

Related words

• assunto
• assunção
• consumir
• Latin assūmō
• Spanish asumir

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. assumir
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. assumir
4. ^ a b c Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. assumir
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. assumir
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. assūmō
7. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. asumir
8. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. assumir
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 134
10. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 1, 44
11. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. assumir
12. ^ a b c d e Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. assumir
13. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. assumir