possum

pos--sum Vorlage:lat. 'kann ich, fähig zu bin ich, vermag ich'

Aus uital. *possom, aus *potis „Meister, der die Kontrolle über“ + *som „Ich bin“. Vwndt. sind unter anderem Oscan púttiad „sie können“ und South Picene puti „Ich könnte“.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.sum/, [ˈpɔs̠ːʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.sum/, [ˈpɔsːum]

Verb

possum (Präsens Infinitiv posse, Perfekt Aktiv potuī); unregelmäßige Konjugation, unregelmäßig, kein Passiv

1. fähig, kann, mag, vermag
   • Synonyme: polleō, queō, valeō, praevaleō, vigeō
   • Antonym: nequeō
   • Tunc, modo edere non potuit – Zu dieser Zeit konnte er einfach nicht essen
   • Possum Latine loqui – Ich kann Latein sprechen
   • Potesne mihi succurere, quaeso? - Kannst du mir bitte helfen?

Conjugation

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.

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.