Summas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Comprehensive treatises or systematic works, especially in philosophy or theology ; plural forms of major scholarly texts that summarize vast fields of knowledge
2. Authoritative and detailed expositions on a broad subject, usually referring to key reference works in academic contexts ; multiple significant summaries in learned disciplines
3. Extensive and organized presentations of principles or knowledge, particularly in religious or intellectual traditions ; several elaborate compendiums addressing complete subject areas

Etymology: Summas is the plural of "summa," and the story it points to is one of the most important in scholarly writing. The Latin "summa" means "sum," "total," or "highest point," and it came to mean a complete compendium of knowledge, a survey that gathers everything about a subject into one work. The best-known examples are the medieval "summae" of theology, most famously Thomas Aquinas's "Summa Theologiae," which set out to cover the whole of Christian doctrine in an orderly structure. The sense works through the idea of a sum as a total: a work that adds up all that is known on a topic. Its usage in English follows the scholarly tradition, so "summas" refers to several such comprehensive works at once, the plural form used when discussing more than one.

Synonyms: totals, sums