superstes Latin · revision 31373

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *sth₂-eh₁-ie/o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [sʊˈpɛr.stɛs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [suˈpɛr.stes]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''superstes''' ''m'' or f (genitive superstitis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|super-|t=over, above]] and a noun ⟨*-stat-⟩ “one who stands”, from [[m|la|stō|t=to stand]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary takes it from [[m|la|superstō|t=to stand over, survive]].^(Wiktionary) De Vaan derives ⟨stō⟩ from [[itc-pro|*sta-ē-je/o-|t=to stand]] and [[ine-pro|*sth₂-eh₁-ie/o-|t=to stand]], and counts a stem in ⟨-t-⟩ ⟨*stat-⟩ in compounds among its old formations.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has “close the door; now you alone are witness to my words” in the ''Truculentus'', and the wish that a wife may outlive her husband in the ''Asinaria''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first sense is one who stands by, a witness, especially in a lawsuit;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Festus explains ''superstitēs'' as witnesses who are present.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Ovid it is also standing over a fallen enemy, of a wave looking down on the waves it has beaten.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Its main sense is surviving another's death, as Terence's “a son has been born to Pamphilus;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) I pray the gods he may live”, with a dative or genitive of what is outlived.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Of fame and writings it is lasting after death, as Ovid's elegies, a work to survive his own fate, and of things remaining when the rest are gone, as in Statius.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “present, surviving, outliving”, and as a noun “survivor”.^(Stelten 1995) In Medieval Latin it is also a foreman or overseer of building works.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a witness and a surviving wife.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of a child who may live.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a work that outlives its author.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Standing over (a fallen enemy).^(OLD 2012)

+ # Standing by as a [[m|en|witness]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|surviving|alt=Surviving]], outliving;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) lasting after death; remaining.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|survivor]].^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A foreman of building works.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[superstitiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[superstō]]

+ * [[stō]]

+ * [[supersum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}