Middle English Dictionary Entry
-sǒm suf.(2)
Entry Info
| Forms | -sǒm suf.(2) Also -som(m)e, -soum, -sum. |
| Etymology | From OE sum pron. following ordinal numbers in the pl.gen., e.g., syxa sum one of six, with five others; after the loss of the pl.gen. ending in early ME, the pron. came to be thought of as a suffix. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
A suffix added in ME to cardinal numbers, with the meaning 'a group of' or 'in all': e.g., eighte-sum pron., eightetenesom n. (Suppl.), four-som n., fourtisom n. (Suppl.), hundredsom n., ninsom n., sixsom n., sixtisom n., tensom n., twentisom n. [delete fiftend-som n. as separate entry and add to fif-tende ord.num. 1.; cp. som pron. 1.(b) & esp. 2.(e)].
Associated quotations
- c1390(?c1350) SVrn.Leg.(Vrn)90/1680 : Fourti sum of men of Germayn..Toward Rome wente wiþ gret dilyte.
- c1450 Glo.Chron.B (Cmb Ee.4.31)792/158 : Eiȝtene somme [Trin-C: Brenni..siwede þe kinge Wt his eitetuþe some].