absum

From ab- (“from, away”) +‎ sum (“I am”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈap.sũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈab.sum]

absum (present infinitive abesse, perfect active āfuī, future active participle āfutūrus); irregular conjugation, suppletive, no passive, no supine stem except in the future active participle, no gerund

1. to be away, to be absent, to be distant

   Synonym: dēsum

   Antonyms: adsum, stō

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.620:

     “‘Nusquam aberō, et tūtum patriō tē līmine sistam.’”

     “‘I will never be distant [from you], and will set you safe at your father's doorstep.’”
     (Venus reassures her son, Aeneas.)

2. (of length or time) to stretch, be away from, be distant from (with ab + ablative)
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico libre I.chapter 43:

     Hic locus aequō ferē spatiō ab castrīs Ariovistī et Caesaris aberat.

     This position was placed at an almost equal distance from Ariovist's and Caesar's camp.

3. to be forbidden, be unpleasant, unwarranted for, vile
   • 672 CE – 735 CE, Beda Presbyter, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum libre I.capitulum 32:

     Sī enim, quod absit, verba eius postpōnitis, quandō eum omnipotēns Deus poterit audīre prō vōbīs, quem vōs neglegitis audīre prō Deō?

     If in fact, and God forbid! you scorn his teachings, when God omnipotent were to hear him in your favor, would you neglect hearing him as messenger of our God?

• Regularized perfect and supine forms abfuī, abfutūrus etc. occur in Medieval Latin.

¹Old Latin or in poetry.

• (I am away): longē sum

• Borrowings:
  • ⇒ Norwegian Bokmål: abessiv
  • → Old High German: abawesen (calque)
    • German: abwesend
      • ⇒ German: Abwesenheit

absum

1. inflection of absus:
   1. nominative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine/neuter singular

absum

1. accusative singular of absus

• “absum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “absum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “absum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be far from town: longe, procul abesse ab urbe
    
  • to be not far away: prope (propius, proxime) abesse
    
  • he has been absent five years: quinque annos or sextum (iam) annum abest
    
  • to be quite uncivilised: ab omni cultu et humanitate longe abesse (B. G. 1. 1. 3)
    
  • God forbid: quod abominor! (procul absit!)
    
  • to be free from blame: abesse a culpa
    
  • to be almost culpable: prope abesse a culpa