Etymograph

English

consummate

Consummate comes from Middle English consummat(e) ‘fulfilled, completed’, from Latin summa ‘top, summit, highest point or place’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *úp.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*úpreconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*upér‘above’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*super‘above’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*superos‘upper’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperus‘upper, higher’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsumma‘top, summit, highest point or place’superlative of superus
  7. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsummō‘to sum up, finish, complete’
  8. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsummātus‘accomplished, completed, consummated, perfected’perfect passive participle of cōnsummō
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500consummat(e)‘fulfilled, completed’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1527consummate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*úpreconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*upér‘above’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*super‘above’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*superos‘upper’reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperus‘upper, higher’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsumma‘top, summit, highest point or place’superlative of superus
  7. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsummō‘to sum up, finish, complete’
  8. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsummātus‘accomplished, completed, consummated, perfected’perfect passive participle of cōnsummō
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500consummat(e)‘fulfilled, completed’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1527consummate

Earliest quotation: 1527, Robert Thorne, Divers Voyages touching the Dicoverie of America: “There lacke many things, that a consummate carde should…”

The story

First attested in the beginning of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English consummat(e) (‘(past participle) fulfilled, completed; (adjective) perfect, consummate’), borrowed from Latin cōnsummātus, perfect passive participle of cōnsummō (‘to sum up, finish, complete’) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from con- (‘together’) + summa (‘a sum’) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); see sum, summation.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘above’

over, superior, uber, supervise, 18 more

through Proto-Italic *super ‘above’

super, sovereign, soprano, 16 more

through Proto-Italic *superos ‘upper’

supra, 4 more

through Latin superus ‘upper, higher’

supreme, 6 more

through Latin summa ‘top, summit, highest point or place’

sum, summary, summa, 1 more

Another origin of consummate

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEconsummātus‘accomplished, completed, consummated, perfected’uncertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*consummatenuncertain
  3. Englishtodayconsummate

First attested in c. 1525; either inherited from Middle English *consummaten (only attested in compound tenses) or directly borrowed from Latin consummātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Today it means

adj Complete in every detail, perfect, absolute.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *úp / consummate

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