appendix

Forms

appendix f (genitive appendicis); third declension^[1] Paulus' epitome of Festus gives an older form ampendix.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin appendō (“to hang on, weigh out”) + -ix.^[4][1] The verb is from ad- and pendō,^[5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *pend-e/o- (“to hang”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend-e/o- (“to spin”).^[6] De Vaan notes that nearly all handbooks regard this root as a variant of *(s)penh₁- (“to spin, weave”).^[6]

According to Paulus' epitome of Festus the ancients said ⟨ampendices⟩, “because they hung around”, for what were later called ⟨appendices⟩.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is from Cicero's Hortensius (81–43 BC), which calls the body an appendage of the mind.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The general sense is anything attached to something larger, an appendage or adjunct;^[4] more often it is figurative, an addition or supplement, as in Varro.^[2] Apuleius applies it, with play on its origin, to a person who hangs on to another.^[4] Pliny the Elder records it as the name of the barberry, whose red berries were called appendices.^[4]

The grammarian Nonius defines it as what is fastened to something else, as if hanging from it.^[3] English borrowed it in the 1540s for an addition to a document or book; the anatomical sense of a small outgrowth of an organ followed in the 1610s.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero calls the body an appendage of the mind.^[4][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of an addition or supplement.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder gives it as a name of the barberry.^[4][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a person who hangs on to another.^[4][7]
• 1540s – English borrows it for an addition to a book.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An appendage, adjunct, anything attached to something larger.^[4][2]
2. An addition, supplement.^[2]
3. A person who hangs on to another.^[4]
4. The barberry bush or its fruit.^[4][1]

Word family

• appendicium
• appendicula

Related words

• appendō
• appensor
• appensus
• English appendix

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de