possum
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Derived from opossum by apheresis.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]possum (plural possums)
- (US) An opossum, a marsupial of the family Didelphidae of the Americas.
- Any of the marsupials in several families of the order Diprotodontia of Australia and neighboring islands.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]
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See also
[edit]- possum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Diprotodontia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Didelphidae on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Verb
[edit]possum (third-person singular simple present possums, present participle possuming, simple past and past participle possumed)
- (intransitive) To play possum; to feign sleep, illness, or death.
References
[edit]- ^ “possum”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ “possum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Latin
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Proto-Italic *possom, from *potis (“master in control of”) + *som (“I am”). By surface analysis, potis + sum. Cognates include Oscan púttiad (“they can”) and South Picene puti (“I could”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈpos.sum/, [ˈpɔs̠ːʊ̃ˑ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈpos.sum/, [ˈpɔsːum]
Verb
[edit]possum (present infinitive posse, perfect active potuī); irregular conjugation, irregular, no passive
- be able to, can, may
- Synonyms: polleō, queō, valeō, praevaleō, vigeō
- Antonym: nequeō
- Tunc, modo edere non potuit ― At that time, he just wasn't able to eat
- Possum Latine loqui ― I am able to speak in Latin
- Potesne mihi succurrere, quaeso? ― Can you help me please?
- 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.39–41:
- “[...] Pallāsne exūrere classem
Argīvum atque ipsōs potuit submergere pontō,
ūnīus ob noxam et furiās Aiācis Oīlēī?”- “Was not Pallas able to burn the Argive fleet and to drown [the men] themselves in the sea – [all] because of the crime and fury of [just] one man, Ajax, [son] of Oileus?”
(Pallas or Athena meted divine retribution after the fall of Troy; there the Argive/Greek invaders had desecrated Athena’s temple, in which Ajax the Lesser assaulted Cassandra.)
- “Was not Pallas able to burn the Argive fleet and to drown [the men] themselves in the sea – [all] because of the crime and fury of [just] one man, Ajax, [son] of Oileus?”
- “[...] Pallāsne exūrere classem
- 8 CE – 12 CE, Ovid, Sorrows 1.57–58:
- tū tamen ī prō mē, tū, cui licet, aspice Rōmam,
dī facerent, possem nunc meus esse līber!- Nevertheless, you go instead of me – you, to whom it is allowed, behold [the city of] Rome – Gods! [If only you] would grant [it], [that] now I would be able to be my book!
(The exiled poet addresses his book as if it were a living emissary that he will send to Rome in his place. The optative subjunctive “facerent” expresses a wish, followed by the jussive subjunctive “possem” stating what the writer believes should be done.)
- Nevertheless, you go instead of me – you, to whom it is allowed, behold [the city of] Rome – Gods! [If only you] would grant [it], [that] now I would be able to be my book!
- tū tamen ī prō mē, tū, cui licet, aspice Rōmam,
Conjugation
[edit]This verb is irregular, but synchronously resembles sum prefixed with pot-. Several contractions and simplifications occur, however, namely: -ts- → -ss-, -tf- → -t-, -tess- → -ss- (note that potēns does not originate from non-existent *fēns).
However, while this analysis works synchronically, diachronically, this relationship does not reflect a cognate historical relationship in all cases. For example, Osco-Umbrian forms confirm that a Proto-Italic verb Proto-Italic *poteō (“to be master”) (stem *pot-ē-) must also be reconstructed that, although lost in Latin otherwise, appears to have been the ultimate historical source of potuī and potēns.[1]
In Vulgar Latin, the first person singular is changed to possō (causing the verb to be treated like a third conjugation verb (base poss-) in the present subjunctive (*possam, *possās)), while the third person plural (eī/eae/ea) possunt was preserved as such, though the rest of the verb became the second conjugation verb potēre ((tu) *potēs, (is/ea/id) *potet, (nōs) *potēmus and (vōs) *potētis), based on forms like potuī and potēns, just like velle (infinitive of volō) was reformed to *volēre after forms like voluī and volēns.
indicative | singular | plural | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
active | present | possum | potes | potest | possumus | potestis | possunt |
imperfect | poteram | poterās | poterat | poterāmus | poterātis | poterant | |
future | poterō | poteris, potere |
poterit | poterimus | poteritis | poterunt | |
perfect | potuī | potuistī | potuit | potuimus | potuistis | potuērunt, potuēre | |
pluperfect | potueram | potuerās | potuerat | potuerāmus | potuerātis | potuerant | |
future perfect | potuerō | potueris | potuerit | potuerimus | potueritis | potuerint | |
subjunctive | singular | plural | |||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
active | present | possim | possīs | possit | possīmus | possītis | possint |
imperfect | possem | possēs | posset | possēmus | possētis | possent | |
perfect | potuerim | potuerīs | potuerit | potuerīmus | potuerītis | potuerint | |
pluperfect | potuissem | potuissēs | potuisset | potuissēmus | potuissētis | potuissent | |
non-finite forms | active | passive | |||||
present | perfect | future | present | perfect | future | ||
infinitives | posse | potuisse | — | — | — | — | |
participles | potēns | — | — | — | — | — |
- Some passive forms are attested in pre-classical authors (e.g. potestur, poteratur, possitur, possetur).
Quotations
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- Vulgar Latin: possō (see there for further descendants)
References
[edit]- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “potis, pote”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 484f.
- “possum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “possum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- possum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to give a man the opportunity of doing a thing: facultatem alicui dare alicuius rei or ut possit...
- I cannot make myself believe that..: non possum adduci, ut (credam)
- I cannot bring myself to..: a me impetrare non possum, ut
- he is a young man of great promise: adulescens alios bene de se sperare iubet, bonam spem ostendit or alii de adulescente bene sperare possunt
- I have exhausted all my material: copiam quam potui persecutus sum
- movable, personal property: res, quae moveri possunt; res moventes (Liv. 5. 25. 6)
- to isolate a witness: aliquem a ceteris separare et in arcam conicere ne quis cum eo colloqui possit (Mil. 22. 60)
- men of military age: qui arma ferre possunt or iuventus
- men exempt from service owing to age: qui per aetatem arma ferre non possunt or aetate ad bellum inutiles
- by the longest possible forced marches: quam maximis itineribus (potest)
- this can be said of..., applies to..: hoc dici potest de aliqua re
- this can be said of..., applies to..: hoc transferri potest in aliquid
- I cannot find words for..: dici vix (non) potest or vix potest dici (vix like non always before potest)
- without wishing to boast, yet..: quod vere praedicare possum
- that is self-evident, goes without saying: hoc facile intellegi potest
- from this it appears, is apparent: ex quo intellegitur or intellegi potest, debet
- (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum tenere vix posse
- (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum aegre continere posse
- (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: lacrimas tenere non posse
- (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: fletum cohibere non posse
- (ambiguous) to be unable to speak for emotion: prae lacrimis loqui non posse
- (ambiguous) to be unable to sleep: somnum capere non posse
- (ambiguous) to have great influence with a person; to have considerable weight: multum auctoritate valere, posse apud aliquem
- (ambiguous) to have great weight as a speaker: multum dicendo valere, posse
- (ambiguous) to be unable to say all one wants: verbis non omnia exsequi posse
- (ambiguous) to have a powerful navy: navibus plurimum posse
- to give a man the opportunity of doing a thing: facultatem alicui dare alicuius rei or ut possit...
- possum in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
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- Rhymes:English/ɒsəm
- Rhymes:English/ɒsəm/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Marsupials
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₁es-
- Latin terms inherited from Proto-Italic
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin verbs
- Latin terms with usage examples
- Latin terms with quotations
- Latin irregular verbs
- Latin suppletive verbs
- Latin active-only verbs
- Latin words in Meissner and Auden's phrasebook