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dependo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word dependo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*(s)pend-e/o-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pendo
Latin dependo
Latin expendo
Latin stipendium
English stipend
Latin rependo
Latin dispendo
Latin perpendo
Latin perpendiculum

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈpɛn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈpɛn.do][1]

Forms

dēpendō (present infinitive dēpendere, perfect active dēpendī, supine dēpēnsum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + pendō (“to weigh, pay”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces pendō to Proto-Italic *pend-e/o- (“to hang, weigh”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend-e/o- (“to spin”).[4] Lewis & Short note that it originally meant to weigh out, hence to pay.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it of drachmas paid over, quas dependi.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It means to pay over or pay down;[2][5] Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.[2][5] Cicero writes to Atticus that he would rather forswear the debt than pay it, and tells a correspondent that he must pay what he promised on another's behalf.[5] It is also to pay a penalty, as in Cicero's paying the penalty to the state by death or exile.[2][5] After Augustus it means to spend or expend time, labour and the like: Columella speaks of labour spent, and Lucan of time given to love.[5] The elder Seneca has each person giving up some part of the body for the whole.[2] Glossaries explain it as to pay for another, to satisfy, to render.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of paying drachmas.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of paying debts and penalties.[2][5][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella, of labour expended.[5][6]
  • 39–65 AD – Lucan, of time given to love.[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pay over, pay down;[2][5][1] to pay a penalty.[2][5][1]
  2. To expend or spend time or labour, to bestow.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • depensio
  • dēpensum

Usage notes

It is distinct from dēpendeō, “to hang down, depend on”, which is formed from pendeō.[1]

References

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

“Dependo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dependo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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