summum Latin · revision 30815

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *(h₁)up-m(H)o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈsʊm.mũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈsum.mum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''summum''' ''n'' (genitive summī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the neuter of [[m|la|summus|t=highest]], used as a noun and as an adverb.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces ⟨summus⟩ to [[itc-pro|*sup(a)mo-|t=highest]] and [[ine-pro|*(h₁)up-m(H)o-|t=highest]], cognate with [[xum|somo|t=upper]], [[sa|उपम|tr=upamá-|t=uppermost]] and [[grc|ὕπατος|tr=húpatos|t=highest]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cato, ''De agri cultura'': a vat should have four handles at the top (''ad summum'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a noun it is the highest point, top or summit (Cicero's staff bent slightly at the top), the surface of the ground or of water, and the last part or final stage: Quintilian says the judge must be moved at the start and driven at the end.^(OLD 2012) It is also the highest degree or height of something, as in Seneca's men placed at the summit of human fortune.^(OLD 2012) As an adverb it means “at most”, as Cicero's two or at most three days to cover seven hundred miles, and once, in the ''Epicedion Drusi'', “for the last time”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ English ''summit'' comes from it through Old French ''som'' and its diminutive ''somete''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato: “at the top”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, adverb, “at most”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the end of a speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English [[m|en|summit]], through Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The highest point, [[m|en|top]], [[m|en|summit]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The surface (of the ground or of water).^(OLD 2012)

+ # The last part, end.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The highest degree, height.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # At most, at the outside.^(OLD 2012)

+ # For the last time.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[summus]]

+ * [[superus]]

+ * [[en|summit]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}