English

Noun

possum ‎(plural possums)

1. (US) An opossum, a marsupial of the family Didelphidae of the Americas.
2. Any of the marsupials in several families of the order Diprotodontia of Australia and neighboring islands.

Translations

Derived terms

• play possum
• ring-tail possum

Related terms

• opossum

See also

• possum on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Diprotodontia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Didelphidae on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

From potis ‎(“able, capable”) + sum ‎(“I am”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.sum/, /ˈpos.sũ/

Verb

possum ‎(present infinitive posse, perfect active potuī); irregular conjugation, no passive

1. I am able, can

   Tunc, modo edere non potuit.

   At that time, he just hasn't been able to eat.

   Possum Latine loqui.

   I am able to speak in Latin.

   Potesne mihi succurrere, quaeso?

   Can you help me please?

   Si probare possemus Ligarium in Āfricā omnino non fuisse.

   If we could prove that Ligarius was not at all in Africa.

Inflection

This verb is irregular, but resembles sum prefixed with pot-. Several contractions and simplifications occur, however: -ts- > -ss-, -tf- > -t-, -tess- > -ss-.

Derived terms

• multum posse
• possibilis
• potēns
• potentia

Related terms

Descendants

• English: in posse, power
• Vulgar Latin: *potere (see there for further descendants)

References

• possum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• possum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “possum”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to give a man the opportunity of doing a thing: facultatem alicui dare alicuius rei or ut possit...
    
  • I cannot make myself believe that..: non possum adduci, ut (credam)
    
  • I cannot bring myself to..: a me impetrare non possum, ut
    
  • he is a young man of great promise: adulescens alios bene de se sperare iubet, bonam spem ostendit or alii de adulescente bene sperare possunt
    
  • I have exhausted all my material: copiam quam potui persecutus sum
    
  • movable, personal property: res, quae moveri possunt; res moventes (Liv. 5. 25. 6)
    
  • to isolate a witness: aliquem a ceteris separare et in arcam conicere ne quis cum eo colloqui possit (Mil. 22. 60)
    
  • men of military age: qui arma ferre possunt or iuventus
    
  • men exempt from service owing to age: qui per aetatem arma ferre non possunt or aetate ad bellum inutiles
    
  • by the longest possible forced marches: quam maximis itineribus (potest)
    
  • this can be said of..., applies to..: hoc dici potest de aliqua re
    
  • this can be said of..., applies to..: hoc transferri potest in aliquid
    
  • I cannot find words for..: dici vix (non) potest or vix potest dici (vix like non always before potest)
    
  • without wishing to boast, yet..: quod vere praedicare possum
    
  • that is self-evident, goes without saying: hoc facile intellegi potest
    
  • from this it appears, is apparent: ex quo intellegitur or intellegi potest, debet
    
  • (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum tenere vix posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum aegre continere posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: lacrimas tenere non posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: fletum cohibere non posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to be unable to speak for emotion: prae lacrimis loqui non posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to be unable to sleep: somnum capere non posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to have great influence with a person; to have considerable weight: multum auctoritate valere, posse apud aliquem
    
  • (ambiguous) to have great weight as a speaker: multum dicendo valere, posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to be unable to say all one wants: verbis non omnia exsequi posse
    
  • (ambiguous) to have a powerful navy: navibus plurimum posse
    
• possum in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016