Where does “sum” come from?
Sum comes from Old French summe, from Latin summa meaning "total" or "aggregate," derived from the comparative form of summus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European upo.
sum (English): A quantity obtained by addition or aggregation;...
Definitions
- A quantity obtained by addition or aggregation;...
Ancestry of “sum”, step by step
sum traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Khmer ស
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Khmer | ស | white |
| 2 | Chinese | 蘇 | — |
| 3 | English | Sue | A Mary Sue |
| 4 | Middle English | seuen | — |
| 5 | Anglo-Norman | suer | nominative singular of seror; to dry |
| 6 | Old French | sivre | to follow |
| 7 | Vulgar Latin | sequere | to follow; second-person singular future active... |
| 8 | Latin | sequor | I follow, come or go after |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | sekʷōr | follow, come/go after |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | sékʷetor | to be following |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | sekʷ- | to follow; to see; to say |
via Mongolian сум
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mongolian | сум | arrow, projectile, bullet; district |
| 2 | Mongolian | ᠰᠤᠮᠤ | arrow, projectile, bullet; district |
| 3 | Manchu | ᠨᡳᡵᡠ | a big arrow; a basic unit of a banner army |
| 4 | Proto-Mongolic | sumun | arrow |
| 5 | Latin | summum | top; summit; nominative neuter singular of summus |
| 6 | Latin | summus | highest, greatest, the most high; top, on top |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | supemos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)úp-m̥mo-s | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | upó | under, below |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃ewp- | — |