praesumere

Praesumere is a Latin verb meaning to take beforehand, to undertake in advance, or to presume/suppose something ahead of time. It combines the prefix prae- meaning before with sumere, “to take.” The principal parts are praesumō, praesumere, praesumpsī, praesumptum, which yield the standard Latin verbal forms across tenses.

In classical Latin, praesumere is used to convey anticipation or preemptive action, such as undertaking something in advance or assuming a state or outcome prior to confirmation. It can express a mental act of presupposing or calculating based on prior information. The verb also gives rise to the noun praesumptio, meaning a presumption or assumption. This noun is common in legal and scholarly Latin to denote an inference or belief regarded as true unless contradicted.

In legal Latin, praesumptio often appears in phrases such as praesumptio iuris tantum, a law-based presumption that is rebuttable by evidence. Beyond legal contexts, praesumere appears in linguistic and philosophical discussions of presupposition and expectation in reasoning. While less common in everyday English translations, the term retains relevance for studies of Latin semantics, syntax, and Roman-law vocabulary.