pessum Latin · revision 6031

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *ped-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛs.sũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛs.sum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pessum''' (not comparable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably the accusative of a u-stem *ped-tu- or *pet-tu- “falling”, from the root [[ine-pro|*ped-|t=to fall]] of [[pēs]] “foot”, as in a supine.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[sa|पद्यते|tr=pádyate|t=falls]] and [[sa|पत्तुम्|tr=páttum|t=to fall]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Schrijver explains the double /s/ as avoiding a clash with a word *pēsum “fart”, and Kortlandt proposed *pet-tu-, from the root of [[sa|पतति|tr=pátati|t=flies, falls]], but de Vaan prefers *ped-tum because of [[pēior]] “worse”.^(de Vaan 2008) Lewis and Short took it from *pedis-versum “towards the feet”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose casket went to the bottom with the ship.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant to the bottom, down, and figuratively to destruction, in fixed phrases: ''pessum īre'', ''pessum abīre'' “to sink, to be ruined”, and ''pessum dare'' “to send to the bottom, to destroy”, which was also written as one word, [[pessumdō]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Plautus' net that went to the bottom and Tacitus' ''pessum īre'' show the range.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis and Short call it mostly ante-classical and post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it kept these senses.^(DMLBS) Late medical Latin had an unrelated ''pessum'' “pessary”, from [[grc|πεσσός|tr=pessós]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of a casket that went to the bottom.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses ''pessum īre''.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # To the bottom, down, ''pessum īre'', to sink, be ruined.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''pessum dare'', to send to the bottom; to [[m|en|destroy]], ruin.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pēior]]

+ * [[pessumdō]]

+ * [[pēs]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}