A Word is Born
succubus
noun (pl. succubi |-ˌbī| )
a female demon believed to have sexual intercourse with sleeping men.
ORIGIN – late Middle English: from medieval Latin succubus ‘prostitute,’ from succubare, from sub- ‘under’ + cubare ‘to lie.’
Let me just say that I always wanted to be an etymologist. A friend, CJ, used a new adjective form of the word succubus in a sentence last night, responding to my question about a friend I hadn’t heard him mention in a while. He used it to describe her behavior – succubescent. I know what a succubus is, but his negative intonation made me know that this adjective did not have anything to do with juicy sex. I have not heard such an exciting new word in ages! It’s not an official word (I checked) but I want to make it one, because I knew immediately what he was telling me about that person and it is also fun to say.
The thing is, how to spell it? It being a a derivation of the word succubus, I typed that noun into my computer dictionary to check for a related adjective. I didn’t realize that it was set on thesaurus, however, not dictionary, and what came up was the verb, succumb.
succumb
verb
1 she succumbed to temptation: yield, give in/way, submit, surrender, capitulate, cave in. ANTONYMS resist.
2 he succumbed to the disease: die from/of; catch, develop, contract, fall ill with; informal come down with. ANTONYMS withstand.
ORIGIN – late 15th cent. (in the sense ‘bring low, overwhelm’): from Old French succomber or Latin succumbere, from sub- ‘under’ + a verb related to cubare ‘to lie.’
Both words are from the same Latin root “sub” which means ‘to lie under”, and succumb can mean either to willingly give in or unwillingly fall victim to, either one which would pretty much be the case if one were to encounter a succubus.
I typed the noun in again and this time I got succulent. This word is from the Latin for “juice”, so is not etymologically related, and yet it is interesting that they would sound related, since the manifestation that succubus evokes would most likely involve juices. By the way, I choose to use manifestation here because it can mean “the appearance of a ghost or spirit”. Just sayin’.
succulent |ˈsəkyələnt|
adjective
(of food) tender, juicy, and tasty.
ORIGIN – early 17th cent.: from Latin succulentus, from succus ‘juice.’
The thesaurus asked me if I meant suffocate. One of it’s definitions is to feel or cause to feel trapped and oppressed: (as adj. suffocated) : I felt suffocated by my marriage. That word also has roots in the Latin sub – the idea of being under something. Hmmm.
I finally got succubus typed into the dictionary, and it has no adjectives. No succubescent. I thought of words that ended in – scent and -ant. The adjective that came to mind was tumescent. I couldn’t find a definition for the suffix -scent, but the suffix -ent is attached to a verb to identify who or what is doing the action of the verb. Succubus is a noun, however. The noun suffix -ant means inclined to or tending to, which is closer to the meaning that CJ was conveying. However, tumescent also can reasonably come to mind when thinking about succubi. (And my prose, at times.)
tumescent |t(y)o͞oˈmes(ə)nt|
adjective
1 swollen or becoming swollen, especially as a response to sexual arousal.
2 (especially of language or literary style) pompous or pretentious; tumid: his prose is tumescent, full of orotund language.
ORIGIN – mid 19th cent.: from Latin tumescent- ‘beginning to swell,’ from the verb tumescere, from tumere ‘to swell.’
I looked up essence just in case it might have a suffix variation like -scent, but no. The new word, succubescent, however, does describe the essence of the behavior of the ex-friend who inspired it.
I wondered if the sound of the word suck could be related to succubus in any way other than phonetically, but it doesn’t seem so. However, it does resonate rudely.
suck |sək|
verb
1 [ with obj. ] draw into the mouth by contracting the muscles of the lip and mouth to make a partial vacuum: they suck mint juleps through straws.
• draw in a specified direction by creating a vacuum: he was sucked under the surface of the river.
2 involve (someone) in something without their choosing: I didn’t want to be sucked into the role of dutiful daughter.
3 [ no obj. ] N. Amer. informal be very bad, disagreeable, or disgusting: I love your country, but the weather sucks.
ORIGIN – Old English sūcan (verb), from an Indo-European imitative root; related to soak.
CJ’s new word succubescent, at least the way I heard it, is a beautiful synonym for sucky, however. It does have an unfortunate mythologically mysogonistic undertone. I asked CJ if he would use that word to refer to a male friend and he said absolutely; a good pejorative is a good pejorative.
So I think the correct spelling of this new word has to be succubescent. First, because my research tells me that’s as good as anything, and more importantly, because it makes such a pretty word in print.
succubescent [səkyəbəs|ent]
adjective
Usage – to describe the type of person who tries to figuratively suffocate someone. Or screw them, and not in a sexual way.
1 mean, demeaning
2 sucky
Or something like that.
ORIGIN – American English, credited to CJ, 2021, derivative of succubus (see first entry above).
11/2021
Plethora 