Etymologically
Log in

fulcrum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 14:59. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfʊɫ.krũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈful.krum][1]

Forms

fulcrum n (genitive fulcrī); second declension[1] A variant fulctrum is also found.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin fulciō (“to prop up”) + -crum.[1][4][3] The OLD calls the formation of the ending doubtful.[2] The verb's own origin is unclear: its stem is often compared with Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “beam”) and Old High German balko (“beam”), but de Vaan finds the connection of meaning weak.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is from Lucilius, in a line that sets a fulcrum in place and adds four supports;[2][6] de Vaan dates it from Varro.[5]

Semantic evolution

It named the curved head- or back-rest of a couch, which L&S describes as the post or foot of a bed or dining couch.[2][4] Virgil speaks of the golden fulcra of festive couches and Propertius of an ivory one.[2][4] By the part for the whole it came to mean the couch itself, as in Propertius and Juvenal, and Ammianus has a feather couch, fulcrum plūmeum.[4][7]

Medieval Latin used it generally for a support, base or pedestal, and figuratively for help.[8] English took it in the 1670s as a term of mechanics for the prop on which a lever turns.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it for the head-rest of a couch.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of couches with or without a fulcrum.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil describes the golden fulcra of festive couches.[2][6]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it for the couch itself.[4][6]
  • 1670s – English borrows it as a term of mechanics.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The head- or back-rest of a couch; a bedpost.[2][4]
  2. (by extension) A couch.[4][7]
  3. (doubtful) The sole of the foot.[2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A support, base, pedestal; help.[8]
  • fulmentum
  • English fulcrum

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com