mumpsimus
[ muhmp-suh-muhs ]
Origin of mumpsimus
1First recorded in 1520–30; from a story, perhaps originating with Erasmus, of an illiterate Catholic priest who, while saying the postcommunion prayer at Mass, said mumpsimus rather than sūmpsimus (1st-person plural perfect of Latin sūmere “to take, take up”): “Quod ōre sūmpsimus, Domine, pūrā mente capiāmus” (“What we have taken by mouth, O Lord, may we keep with a pure mind”) and refused to change the word when corrected; see consume
Words Nearby mumpsimus
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mumpsimus in a sentence
We are not going to change our old 'mumpsimus' for anybody's new 'sumpsimus.'
Res Judicat | Augustine BirrellSumpsimus, sump′si-mus, n. a correct expression displacing an incorrect but common one (see mumpsimus).
On being remonstrated with, he retorted that “He would not leave his old mumpsimus for their new sumpsimus.”
Robin Tremayne | Emily Sarah Holtmumpsimus, mump′si-mus, n. an error to which one clings after it has been thoroughly exposed.
Mr. Beckford called the beast, or reptile, a mumpsimus (sic).
Recollections of the late William Beckford | Henry Venn Lansdown
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