The term incumbent was adopted in the 15th century from the Medieval Latin present active participle incumbens, which denoted “holding an office” (particularly for ecclesiastical roles) but literally meant “reclining”. The concept behind it was that incumbents symbolically “lean” on their current positions. The root of incumbens is incumbere, which was formed by the prefix in-, signifying “on” (from Proto-Indo-European en), and the base cumbere, meaning “to lie down”. This root originates from Proto-Italic kubao and Proto-Indo-European kewb, likely signifying “sleep”. Cumbere has contributed to various English words, such as succumb, catacomb, and decubitus; related terms include cubicle, concubine, succubus, and more.
