plinth

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin plinthus,^[2][3][4][5] also partly borrowed from Middle French plinthe,^[6][7][8][5] which is recorded in French from 1545 (as plinte from 1520–37).^[2] The Latin form itself was used in early English.^[4][9] The Latin word, used by Vitruvius of the slab at the base and at the top of a column, is from Ancient Greek πλίνθος (plínthos, “brick, squared building stone, plinth”).^[2][10][7] The OED calls the Greek word of unknown origin, perhaps a loanword,^[2] and Barnhart probably from a pre-Indo-European language of the Aegean;^[6] Etymonline traces it instead to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split", the source of flint,^[7] a connection Klein, Skeat and Merriam-Webster also suggest.^[11][12][3] The Latin word is also the source of Italian plinto and Spanish plinto.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The square slab at the base of a column, and also the slab at the top of a column supporting the architrave: both 1563, in J. Shute's First Groundes of Architecture.^[2][3] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to 1611 or the 1610s, in Cotgrave's dictionary.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Taken from the language of classical architecture, the word first named the square member under a column's base.^[2][5] From 1610 it also meant the projecting part of a wall just under the eaves, a sense now rare,^[2] and since 1634 a block on which a statue, vase or the like is displayed, or the squared base of a piece of furniture.^[2][5] From 1640 it was used of the projecting course of a wall just above the ground,^[2][13] and since 1803 figuratively of anything shaped or used like a plinth.^[2] In 1963 it was first used for the low cabinet in which a record deck is mounted.^[2] Johnson (1755) explained it, after John Harris, as the square member serving as a foundation to the base of a pillar.^[14]

Timeline

• 1563 – the square slab at the base of a column; also the abacus at its top.^[2][3]
• 1610 – the projecting part of a wall beneath the eaves.^[2]
• 1634 – a block or pedestal on which an object is displayed.^[2]
• 1640 – the projecting course of a wall just above the ground.^[2]
• 1803 – figuratively, something like a plinth in shape or function.^[2]
• 1963 – a cabinet in which a record deck is mounted.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (architecture) The square slab or block that forms the lowest part of the base of a column, pedestal or statue.^{[13][3][10][2]}
2. A block or base on which a statue, vase or piece of equipment stands: The bronze bust was set on a marble plinth.^[13][10][2]
3. (architecture) The lowest course of a wall that shows above the ground, often of stone or brick.^[13][3][10]
4. A flat block at the foot of a door frame, where the architrave meets the skirting board.^[13][10][3]
5. A low cabinet in which a record deck is mounted.^[2]

Word family

• plinthless
• plinthlike

Related words

• flint

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.