Etymologically
Log in

pendeo

Etymology and origin of the Latin word pendeo

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*(s)pend-)

Pronunciation

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

Forms

pendeō (present infinitive pendēre, perfect active pependī); second conjugation, no passive, no supine stem[1]

Etymology

It is the stative verb beside pendō “to hang up, weigh, pay”, as iaceō is beside iaciō.[2][3][4] The root is Proto-Italic *pend-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”), also seen in pondus “weight”.[2][1]

Compare Lithuanian spę́sti (“to set a trap”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,[2] whose slave says “the man in love is wretched” and is answered “the man who hangs is more wretched”.[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to hang or be suspended, to be strung up for punishment, as in Plautus, and to hang in the balance, so that something depended on a slight change.[4] It was used of hanging on someone's neck in an embrace, as in Virgil, of hanging garments and hair, of structures supported over a void, and of things perched high or floating in the air or on water.[4]

Figuratively it meant to be suspended or interrupted, as Virgil's “the works hang interrupted”, to be undecided, to be in suspense, as Plautus' “I have been in suspense too long”, and to depend on something.[4] English pendant and pending come from it through French.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of hanging and of suspense.[4][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of hanging fringes.[4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of safety depending on hope.[4][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of an embrace and of interrupted works.[4][6]
  • early 14th century – English pendant is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To hang, be suspended.[4][1]
  2. To be strung up (for punishment).[4]
  3. To hang in the balance; to weigh.[4][1]
  4. To hang (on someone's neck).[4]
  5. (of clothes, hair) To hang down.[4][1]
  6. To overhang; to be perched high.[4][1]
  7. To hover, float.[4][1]
  8. To be suspended, interrupted.[4][1]
  9. To be uncertain, undecided.[4][1]
  10. To be in suspense.[4][1]
  11. To depend (on).[4][1]

Word family

  • appendeo
  • circumpendeō
  • dēpendeō
  • impendeō
  • interpensīua
  • pendigo
  • pendulus
  • pēnsilis
  • praependeō
  • prōpendeō
  • superpendeō
  • pendēns
  • pendō
  • English pendant
  • English pending

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes haerere, to stick fast, from pendere, to be held up and prevented from falling.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ 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 l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Pendeo.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pendeo. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·