late 14c., presumen, "to take upon oneself, to take liberty," also "to take for granted, believe or accept upon probable evidence, presuppose," especially overconfidently, from Old French presumer (12c.) and directly from Latin praesumere "anticipate," in Late Latin, "assume," from prae "before" (see pre-) + sumere "to take, obtain, buy," from sus‑, variant of sub‑ "up from under" + emere "to take" (from PIE root *em- "to take, distribute").

To presume is to base a tentative or provisional opinion on such knowledge as one has, to be held until it is modified or overthrown by further information. [Century Dictionary]

The intransitive sense of "to venture beyond the limits of ordinary license or propriety" and that of "to press forward presumptuously" are from early 15c. Related: Presumed; presumedly; presuming; presumingly.

early 15c., "an undertaking," formerly also enterprize, from Old French enterprise "an undertaking," noun use of fem. past participle of entreprendre "undertake, take in hand" (12c.), from entre- "between" (see entre-) + prendre "to take," contraction of prehendere "to catch hold of, seize" (from prae- "before," see pre-, + -hendere, from PIE root *ghend- "to seize, take"). Abstract sense of "adventurous disposition, readiness to undertake challenges, spirit of daring" is from late 15c.

"to seize, to catch, capture or arrest as a prisoner," 1704, northern British dialect, of uncertain origin; perhaps ultimately from French caper "seize, to take," from Latin capere "to take" (from PIE root *kap- "to grasp"); or from Dutch kapen "to take," from Old Frisian capia "to buy," which is related to Old English ceapian (see cheap). Related: Copped; copping.

"ask advice of, seek the opinion of as a guide to one's own judgment," 1520s, from French consulter (16c.), from Latin consultare "consult, take the advice of," frequentative of consulere "to take counsel, meet and consider," originally probably "to call together," as in consulere senatum "to gather the senate" (to ask for advice), from Proto-Italic *kom-sel-e-, from *kom- "with, together" (see con-) + *sel-e- "take, gather together," from PIE root *s(e)lh- "to take" (said to be also the source of Middle Welsh dyrllid "to earn," Gothic saljan "to sacrifice," Old Norse selja "to sell, hand over"). Related: Consulted; consulting.