sursum

See also: sursum-

Latin

Alternative forms

• sūrvorsum (archaic)
• sūrsus, sūsum

Etymology

From sub- +‎ vorsum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsuːr.sum/, [ˈs̠uːrs̠ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsur.sum/, [ˈsursum]

Adverb

sūrsum (not comparable)

1. upwards

   Antonym: deorsum

   • early 6th c., Boethius, Contra Eutychen et Nestorium 1:

     corpus omne habet proprium motum, ut ignis sursum, terra deorsum.

     Any given body has a movement of its own, such as fire upwards, earth downwards.

2. (rare) above, high up

   Antonym: deorsum

   • 45 BCE, Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.56.151:

     nares, quod omnis odor ad supera fertur, recte sursum sunt

     The nose is rightly placed high up since every smell carries itself upwards

Descendants

Reflexes of the variant sūsum:

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: sus
  • Romanian: sus
• Dalmatian:
  • sois
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: suso (archaic), su
  • Neapolitan: suso
  • Sicilian: susu
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: sù
  • Venetian: suxo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: sus
  • Occitan: sus
  • Old French: sus
    • French: sus
    • Norman: sus
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: suso
  • Old Spanish: suso
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: susu

References

• “sursum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sursum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sursum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• sursum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.