summa
/ˈsʊmə
/ /ˈsʌmə /noun (plural summae /ˈsʌmiː/) chiefly archaic
A summary of a subject: the Wake is a summa of Joyce’s microtextual practice...
- Even the inquisitorial bishops and curia officials granted that he had written a virtual summa.
- Work as distraction - that is the summa of Voltaire's wisdom.
- His last major paper - ‘Classicism’, published or delivered in 1960, not long before his death - was his summa or summing up of a lifetime of reflection and argument.
Origin
Early 18th century: from Latin, literally 'sum total' (a sense reflected in Middle English).