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impendo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word impendo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*(s)pend-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪmˈpɛn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [imˈpɛn.do][1]

Forms

impendō (present infinitive impendere, perfect active impendī, supine impēnsum); third conjugation[1] It is also spelled inpendō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from in- (“in, into”) and pendō (“to weigh out, pay”).[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ⟨pendō⟩ from Proto-Italic *pende- (“to hang, weigh”), perhaps Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to spin”); the transitive verb went from “to hang up” to “to weigh out” and “to pay”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author,[5] with nōn hoc impendit pūblicum?, “doesn't the public pay for this?”, in the Stichus.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is to pay out or spend money, and by transfer to devote care, labour, time or other resources to a purpose, as Livy's “so that the effort spent may help my plan” and Seneca's life “spent on nothing good”.[2][6] It can stress the sacrifice involved, as in the declamation “so the son was sacrificed”, or mean to waste, as Valerius Flaccus' “do not waste vain prayers”.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “lay out, expend, spend; use; devote, apply”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of public spending.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of effort spent.[2][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of time spent.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pay out, spend, expend.[2][6][1]
  2. To devote (care, labour, time, resources) to.[2][1][7]
  3. To sacrifice; to spend to no purpose, waste.[2]

Word family

  • impendium
  • impēnsa
  • impensus

Usage notes

It is distinct from impendeō, “to hang over”, the source of English impend.[8][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Impendo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/impendo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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