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pendule

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Etymology and origin of the French word pendule

pendule1 pendulum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing, Clipping
First attested
1658 Jean Chapelain, in Huygens's correspondence
Borrowed from
Latin funependulus
Ultimate origin
New Latin funependulus

Pronunciation

Forms

pendule m (plural pendules)[1]

Etymology

The word for the pendulum is borrowed from New Latin funependulus (“hanging by a thread”), a scholars' Latin word that Mersenne wrote as the neuter funependulum; it was first taken into French as funependule (1646) and lost its first syllable by 1658.[2][3][4] The Latin word is compounded of fūne, the ablative of fūnis (“rope, cable”), and the adjective pendulus (“hanging”), from pendeō (“to hang”).[2][5] Galileo had used the Latin word as a noun for the pendulum he devised in 1629.[2][3][6] Littré and the Petit Robert derive the French word straight from the Latin adjective.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Funependule first appears on 8 December 1646 in Mersenne, in Huygens's correspondence, for a weight hanging from a thread;[2][5] pendule follows in 1658 in a letter of Jean Chapelain, for a body that swings about a fixed point under its own weight.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Physics soon distinguished kinds of pendulum, such as pendule simple (1858) and pendule conique (1861).[2][3] In the 19th century the word spread to any object that swings in the same way (1838, Lamartine, of a cable), and figuratively to an alternation of opposite events or forces (1869, Hugo).[2][3] Climbers use it for the swinging traverse made on a rope (1910).[2][3] The clock fitted with a pendulum gave the feminine pendule, now the commoner word.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 1646 – Mersenne writes funependule.[2][5]
  • 1658 – Pendule appears in a letter of Jean Chapelain.[2][4]
  • 1838 – Lamartine uses it of a swinging cable.[2]
  • 1858 – Pendule simple is recorded.[2]
  • 1869 – Hugo uses it figuratively of alternation.[2][3]
  • 1910 – First record of the climbing sense.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (physics) A pendulum, a body that swings about a fixed point under the action of gravity.[8][2]
  2. The pendulum regulating a clock.[8]
  3. A dowser's or diviner's pendulum (pendule de sourcier).[8]
  4. (climbing) A swinging move by which a climber on a rope crosses a difficult passage.[8][2][9]
  5. (figurative) A regular alternation between opposite states.[2]

Word family

  • penduler

pendule2 clock

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1664
Ultimate origin
New Latin funependulus

Pronunciation

Forms

pendule f (plural pendules)[1]

Etymology

The word for the clock is from French pendule1, the pendulum that regulates its movement.[4][8][7] It is short for horloge à pendule (“pendulum clock”), which explains the feminine gender.[6][1][3] The Grand Robert and Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1664,[4][6] while Rey's DHLF gives 1557.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg quote the royal building accounts, which name Huygens “inventeur de l'horloge de la pendulle” (“inventor of the pendulum clock”).[6]

Semantic evolution

Since horloge came to be kept for large or public timepieces, pendule has become, with montre, the usual word for the clocks of everyday life.[3] It gave the diminutive pendulette (1893) and the phrase remettre les pendules à l'heure “to set the record straight”.[3][8]

Timeline

  • 1664 – The feminine pendule “clock” is recorded.[4][6]
  • 1893 – The diminutive pendulette appears.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small clock, often with a chime, placed on a mantelpiece or piece of furniture or hung on a wall.[8][7]
  2. The case holding the movement and dial of such a clock.[7]
  3. Pendule astronomique: a precision clock used to keep time standards and for astronomical measurements.[8]
  4. Remettre les pendules à l'heure: to set the record straight.[8][3]

Word family

  • pendulette

Usage notes

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert number the masculine 1 and the feminine 2, as Littré does.[4][8][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pendule.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/pendule. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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