suspensus Latin · revision 31451

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=220–130 BC, Pacuvius}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''suspēnsus''' (feminine suspēnsa, neuter suspēnsum, comparative suspēnsior, superlative suspēnsissimus); first/second-declension adjective^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the participle of [[m|la|suspendō|t=to hang up; to keep in suspense]], used as an adjective.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) The verb is [[m|la|sub-|t=under, up]] with [[m|la|pendō|t=to hang; to weigh]], whose further origin de Vaan finds uncertain: most handbooks take it as a variant of [[ine-pro|*(s)penh₁-|t=to spin]], while the LIV makes the ⟨-d-⟩ part of the root.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Pacuvius has “the city, anxious, stunned with eagerness, its mind in suspense”;^(OLD 2012) Köbler gives Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of winds it is falling softly or light, as Lucretius' light breeze, and of soil lying light.^(OLD 2012) Of people it is in anxious uncertainty or suspense, as in Pacuvius, also ''in suspēnsō'', and of things marked by such uncertainty, as Cicero's man with a fearful, troubled, doubtful face.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Of a matter it is not settled or decided, as Livy's “on hearing this they left everything undecided”, and of language vague, as the words of Tiberius, always vague and obscure, in Tacitus.^(OLD 2012) ''In suspēnsō'' is also in abeyance, of legal rights.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “suspended, hanging, wavering, uncertain, hesitating”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of a city in suspense.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a light breeze.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a troubled face.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus of Tiberius' vague words.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Hanging, [[m|en|suspended]];^(Stelten 1995) (of winds) light;^(OLD 2012) (of soil) lying light.^(OLD 2012)

+ # In [[m|en|suspense]], anxious, uncertain; wavering, hesitating.^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Undecided, unsettled;^(OLD 2012) (of words) vague.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''in suspēnsō'', in abeyance.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[suspendō]]

+ * [[pendeō]]

+ * [[pendō]]

+ * [[en|suspense]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}