perpendicular

Forms

perpendicular m or f (masculine and feminine plural perpendiculares)^[1] Alfonsine astronomical texts of 1276–1277 have perpendicle, which the CDH files under this word.^[2] A record of 1587 from Mexico City spells it por pendicular.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin perpendiculāris (“perpendicular”), an adjective of geometry formed on perpendiculum (“plumb line”).^[1][4][5] That noun is made with the instrument suffix -culum from perpendō (“to weigh carefully, examine”).^[5][1][6] Gómez de Silva and Corominas instead connect it with pender “to hang”, from pendēre.^[7][8][9] Bénaben explains it as what hangs straight down along a wall: first “vertical”, later in geometry any line at right angles to another.^[10]

Corominas dates it about 1440, from Alfonso de la Torre; the CDH has it a little earlier, in Villena.^[8][9][2] VOX calls it a 15th-century borrowing.^[6] Terreros gave French perpendiculaire and Italian perpendicolare as its equivalents.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Enrique de Villena's glosses on the Aeneid (1427–1428, in a copy of 1442) explain the right angle as the one formed when una línea cae perpendicular sobre otra e faze ángulos eguales “a line falls perpendicular on another and makes equal angles”.^[2] Half a century earlier, Alfonso X's Cánones de Albateni (1276–1277) and other astronomical works had used perpendicle for a line falling at right angles.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso de la Torre's Visión deleitable (c. 1430–1440) speaks of líneas perpendiculares seen near the sun, and Alfonso de Palencia (1490) explained Latin cathetus as a perpendicular line.^[2] In Potosí in 1585 boxes are perpendiculares a plomo “plumb vertical”.^[3]

Autoridades defined it for geometry as a line or plane falling on another without leaning to either side, and recorded the perpendicular a la parábola.^[12] Terreros called Latin perpendicularis a barbarous word.^[11] Domínguez (1846) extended it to anything that falls plumb on an object.^[13] The 1869 edition noted its use as a feminine noun, and the 1884 edition gave the modern definition by the right angle.^[14][15] VOX also records the English Perpendicular style of Gothic architecture.^[6]

Timeline

• 1276–1277 – Alfonsine astronomy uses perpendicle.^[2]
• 1427–1428 – Enrique de Villena uses perpendicular in his glosses on the Aeneid.^[2]
• c. 1440 – Alfonso de la Torre, Corominas's first record.^[8][9]
• 1490 – Alfonso de Palencia glosses Latin cathetus as linaie perpendicular.^[2]
• 1585 – first record in the Americas, in Potosí.^[3]
• 1633 – López de Arenas uses it.^[8]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it for geometry.^[12]
• 1869 – the Academy records its use as a feminine noun.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy defines it by the right angle and gives its Latin source.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (geometry) Of a line or plane: forming a right angle with another line or plane; perpendicular: La calle es perpendicular al río.^[4][16][1]
2. (architecture) Of the English Gothic style marked by vertical mouldings and fan vaults.^[6]

Noun

1. (geometry, feminine) A perpendicular line: Traza la perpendicular desde el vértice.^[4][16]

Word family

• perpendicularidad

Related words

• pender
• perpendículo
• pendiente
• Latin perpendiculum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. perpendicular
3. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. perpendicular
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. perpendicular
5. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. perpendicular
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. perpendicular
8. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 476
9. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pender
10. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. perpendicular
11. ^ a b Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 105
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 229
13. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1364
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 596
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 818
16. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. perpendicular