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Origin and history of subsistent

subsistent(adj.)

1520s, "continuing to exist," also "inherent, residing in" (a sense now obsolete), from Latin subsistentem (nominative subsistens), present participle of subsistere "stand still or firm" (see subsistence). Related: Subsistential.

also from 1520s

Entries linking to subsistent

subsistence(n.)

early 15c., "actual existence, real being," from Late Latin subsistentia "substance, reality," in Medieval Latin also "stability," from Latin subsistens, present participle of subsistere "stand still or firm" (see subsist). Related: Subsistency.

Latin subsistentia is a loan-translation of Greek hypostasis "foundation, substance, real nature, subject matter;" also "that which settles at the bottom, sediment," literally "anything set under."

In the English word, the meaning "act or process of support for physical life" is from 1640s. The sense of "state of being (no more than) subsistent" is by 1680s; subsistence diet is by 1865, popularized, if not coined, by Lyon Playfair, professor of chemistry at University of Edinburgh, in a lecture delivered at the Royal Society on April 3, 1865, and published as "On the Food of Man in Relation to His Useful Work."

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    sinister
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