stum

English

Etymology

From Dutch stom (“unfermented”, literally “mute; dull”). Compare French vin muet, German stummer Wein. Doublet of shtum.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /stʌm/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ʌm

Noun

stum (countable and uncountable, plural stums)

(obsolete) Unfermented grape juice; must.
- 1620s, Ben Jonson, Leges Convivales
  Let our wines, without mixture of stum, be all fine.
- 1682, John Dryden, The Medal:
  And with thy stum ferment their fainting cause.
(obsolete) Wine revived by new fermentation, resulting from the admixture of must.
- 1664, Samuel Butler, Hudibras; with notes by T. R. Nash, volume 1, published 1835, Part II, Canto 1, page 265:
  Drink ev'ry letter on't in stum,
  And make it brisk champaign become.^{[note 1]}
- 1859, The family manual and servants' guide, 9th edition:
  To each hogshead of genuine Bordeaux wine, there are four gallons of Benicarlo, half a gallon of stum wine, and a small quantity of Hermitage added, which mixture undergoes a slight fermentation, and is then exported under the name of claret.
- 1987, André Bustanoby, The Wrath of Grapes: Drinking and the Church Divided, →ISBN, page 36:
  But stum wine was not intended for drinking.

Translations

Unfermented grape juice.

Bulgarian: щира (bg) (štira)

Verb

stum (third-person singular simple present stums, present participle stumming, simple past and past participle stummed)

(transitive, obsolete) To ferment.
(transitive, obsolete) To renew (wine etc.) by mixing must with it and raising a new fermentation.
- 1696, John Floyer, The praeternatural State of animal Hurnours described by their sensible Qualities:
  We stum our crude wines […] to renew their spirits.
(transitive, obsolete) To fume, as a cask of liquor, with burning sulphur.
- 1789, “Cultivation of the Vine”, in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, volume 1:
  Since I have taken this method with cyder, it has proved more like wine than common drink, but then I racked it off a second and a third time, as soon as it appeared fine, and then stummed the cask that received it the lasttime […]

References

^ T. R. Nash disputed the sense, noting "Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, has quoted these lines to prove that stum may signify wine revived by a new fermentation, but, perhaps, it means no more than figuratively to say that the remembrance of the widow's charms could turn bad wine into good, foul muddy wine, into clear sparkling champaigne."

“stum”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

UMTS, MTUs, tums, smut, UTMs, UTMS, must

Danish

Adjective

stum (neuter stumt, plural and definite singular attributive stumme)

mute, not possessing the ability of speech
temporarily unable to speak due to strong emotion
not involving speech
De så ikke min stumme bøn.
They did not see my silent plea.

Latvian

Verb

stum

inflection of stumt:
1. second-person singular present indicative
2. second-person singular imperative

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle Low German stum. Compare to Swedish stum and Danish stum.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /stumː/

Adjective

stum (neuter singular stumt, definite singular and plural stumme, comparative stummare, indefinite superlative stummast, definite superlative stummaste)

quiet, silent (also about pronunciation of letters)
speechless, mute (also about people)

References

“stum” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish stumber.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /stɵm/
Audio: (file)

Adjective

stum (not comparable)

mute (unable to speak)
rigid (not flexing or stretching)
stumt tyg
non-stretch fabric

Declension

Inflection of stum
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative²
Common singular	stum	stummare	stummast
Neuter singular	stumt	stummare	stummast
Plural	stumma	stummare	stummast
Masculine plural³	stumme	stummare	stummast
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular¹	stumme	stummare	stummaste
All	stumma	stummare	stummaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

Derived terms

stumfilm

Related terms

stumhet

References

Anagrams

must, tums

[1] T. R. Nash disputed the sense, noting "Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, has quoted these lines to prove that stum may signify wine revived by a new fermentation, but, perhaps, it means no more than figuratively to say that the remembrance of the widow's charms could turn bad wine into good, foul muddy wine, into clear sparkling champaigne."

[note 1]