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
- 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.[1]
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.