Etymologically
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dependeo

Etymology and origin of the Latin word dependeo

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Ovid
Ultimate origin
Latin (pendeō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [deːˈpɛn.de.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [deˈpɛn.de.o][1]

Forms

dēpendeō (present infinitive dēpendēre, perfect active dēpendī, supine dēpensum); second conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from dē- “down” and pendeō “to hang”.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Ovid, and Lewis and Short note it is not frequent before the Augustan period and absent from Cicero and Caesar.[2][4] Köbler dates Ovid 43 BC–18 AD.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to hang down from, as Virgil's ex umerīs dēpendēre “to hang from the shoulders” and Suetonius' hanging from the neck before the breast.[2][6] In Ovid it meant to proceed from, be derived from, and to depend on.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to hang down, depend, be subject to.[7] It survives in Spanish and Portuguese depender and French dépendre, and through Old French it gave English depend in the mid-15th century.[1][8]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of hanging from the shoulders.[6][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of hanging and of depending.[2][5]
  • mid-15th century – English depend is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hang down from.[2]
  2. To be derived from.[2]
  3. To depend on.[2]

Word family

  • dēpendulus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Dependeo.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dependeo. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·